FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show Trump Supporters Demonstrating In DC On Dec. 12?
An image shared on Facebook over 2,000 times purportedly shows supporters of President Donald Trump demonstrating in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 12.
Verdict: False
The photo actually shows the 2018 pro-gun control “March for Our Lives” rally.
Fact Check:
Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in the national capital on Dec. 12 to protest against the presidential election results, with some skirmishes breaking out between protesters and counterprotesters, according to The New York Times. Trump supporters previously held a similar event, promoted on social media as the “Million MAGA March,” in November, according to NPR.
In the days following the Dec. 12 protest, some social media users shared a photo of a large crowd gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue near the National Gallery of Art that they claim depicts a scene from the pro-Trump event. However, the picture actually shows the pro-gun control “March for Our Lives” rally that occurred in March 2018. (RELATED: Was There A Communications Blackout In DC During George Floyd Protests On June 1?)
Photographer Shannon Finney took the photo for Getty Images on March 24, 2018, according to the caption. The “March for Our Lives” rally in D.C. came after the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that year in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead. David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and political activist, tweeted about social media users miscaptioning the “March for Our Lives” rally photo on Dec. 13.
LMAO who’s going to tell them that’s a photo from @AMarch4OurLives of nearly a million people demanding stronger gun laws and an end to gun violence. pic.twitter.com/JEpeMd7O9y
— David Hogg ???? (@davidhogg111) December 13, 2020
This isn’t the first time social media users have incorrectly attributed a photo showing the 2018 “March for Our Lives” rally to another event. Check Your Fact previously debunked the claim that a similar photo from the pro-gun control rally showed the “Million MAGA March” event that took place in mid-November.