FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show French Protests Against Vaccine Passports?
A video shared on Facebook purportedly shows a French protest against vaccine passports.
Verdict: False
The video was taken in 2016 and shows a crowd in Iceland doing a popular chant seen at soccer games.
Fact Check:
France instituted a health pass that requires people to either be vaccinated, test negative for COVID-19 or provide proof of recent COVID-19 recovery in order to access restaurants, sports venues and other places, according to the Associated Press. Protests against this health pass have occurred for six straight weekends, with thousands of people participating in them, the outlet reported.
The Aug. 21 Facebook post purportedly shows footage from one of these French protests. The video shows a large crowd of people clapping their hands in unison and then chanting. “The Entire Nation of France Has Come Together To Fight Against The Vaccine Passports,” the caption of the video. (RELATED: Did The Military Times Publish This Headline About COVID-19 Vaccines?)
The footage is not, however, from one of the French protests. Through a reverse image search of key frames, Check your Fact found that the video was shared on Twitter in July 2016 by BenchWarmers, a sports news website. The video shows 10,000 Icelanders performing the Viking Thunder Clap, according to the tweet, and was originally filmed by Icelandic telecommunications company Simmin, though it later deleted the tweet.
AMAZING: Over 10,000 Thousand Icelanders Do The Viking-Clap…#Isl #Euro2016
Credit: @siminn pic.twitter.com/uyj5TDm4fg
— BenchWarmers (@BeWarmers) July 4, 2016
The chant in the video is known as the Viking Thunder Clap and it was popular during Iceland’s run during the 2016 European Championship tournament in France, according to The New York Times. The use of the Viking Thunder Clap originated from a 2014 soccer game between an Iceland team and Scottish team, and is thought to be inspired by the 2006 film “300,” which features Spartans shouting “Huh!” after Gerard Butler’s character asks what their profession was, the outlet reported.
