Fact Check: Video Of Egypt Pipeline Fire goes viral as scenes from Sweden riots

New Delhi: On Friday, riots broke out in the city of Malmo in Sweden after a member of the ‘Stram Kurs’ group burnt a copy of a religious book. Rioters set fires and threw objects at police and rescue services Friday night, slightly injuring several police officers and leading to the detention of about 15 people.

The Claim

Amid this, a video of thick plumes of smoke billowing from a massive fire is going viral on social media with the claims that this is what Muslim population of the country did did during the riots in Sweden. In the video, massive fire nad cars can be seen in flames, as people scream in panic and help others to escape.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1300620435030069248

English translation of one such viral post says, “Peacefuls were only 3% in Sweden 20 years ago. Now, they’re 73% and this is the result. Population control law should be the first priority and we expect the Modi government to bring that. Don’t be silent, raise your voice. Else, what happened in Delhi, Bengaluru and Sweden will also happen to you.”

The investigation

Newsroompost did some research and we found out that this claim along with the video to be misleading. We took some screenshots from the video and did the reverse image search, we found out some reports related to the incident.

First, the video is from Egypt when a major fire broke out in July due to leakage in an oil pipeline. Second, the claim that Muslims in Sweden are 73 per cent is far from reality.

The reports say the footage is of a massive fire that broke out along Egypt’s Cairo-Ismailia road when a crude oil pipeline exploded on July 14, 2020. Many other international news organisations had also covered the incident.

The same video was shared earlier claiming that this is the aftermath of explosions that devastated Lebanon’s capital Beirut on August 4, 2020.

The Truth

The fire broke out due to crude oil leakage in the Shuqair-Mostorod pipeline just outside Cairo. Reportedly, 17 people were injured and about 20 cars torched, mostly abandoned by motorists.

Hence, it is clear that the video has nothing to do with the August 28 Sweden riots.