Far-right spreads false claims about Muslim attacks in Bangladesh

The movies are stunning: buildings burning, horrifying violence and ladies weeping as they plead for assist.

They’re – the individuals sharing them say – proof of a “Hindu genocide” taking place in Bangladesh within the wake of the sudden fall of the nation’s long-time chief, Sheikh Hasina.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who makes use of the title Tommy Robinson – a British far-right activist who has been criticised for making inflammatory posts throughout the UK riots – has acquired concerned, sharing movies together with darkish warnings.

However we discovered that lots of the movies and claims shared on-line are false.

Bangladesh has been within the headlines for weeks: student-led protests which left greater than 400 useless culminated with the federal government falling and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing to India on 5 August.

Celebrations escalated into violent unrest, with rioters focusing on members of her ruling Awami League get together which is made up of each Hindu and Muslim members.

And whereas experiences on the bottom have discovered violence and looting impacted Hindu individuals and properties, far-right influencers in neighbouring India shared false movies and knowledge that gave a deceptive view of the occasions.

They claimed to indicate communal violence in opposition to Hindus purportedly carried out by “Islamist radicals” with a violent agenda.

One viral submit claimed to indicate a temple set on fireplace by “Islamists in Bangladesh”.

Nonetheless, BBC Confirm has decided that this constructing, recognized because the Navagraha Temple in Chittagong, was undamaged by the incident which really occurred at a close-by Awami League get together workplace.

Photos obtained by the BBC after the hearth present particles of posters with Awami League members’ faces.

“On 5 August, there was an assault on the Awami League workplace premises behind the temple within the afternoon,” Swapan Das, a workers member on the temple, instructed BBC Confirm. “They took the furnishings outdoors and set fireplace to it.”

Mr Das added that though the temple was not attacked on the day, the scenario stays tense and the temple has been shut with individuals guarding it round the clock.

That is removed from the one story shared, most underneath the identical hashtag, which has had practically one million mentions since 4 August, in accordance with social media monitoring device Brandwatch. Accounts that had been principally geolocated to India drove the development.

Different viral posts which have since been debunked embrace a declare {that a} Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer’s dwelling had been burned down. BBC Confirm has established the home the truth is belongs to a Muslim MP from the Awami League.

Then there was the varsity that burned down, which the BBC visited. Once more, the explanations behind the assault look like political reasonably than spiritual.

All of those posts have been shared by a number of accounts, a lot of which assist Hindu-nationalist values.

Inter-religious strains have been current in Bangladesh for a lot of many years, says Professor Sayeed Al-Zaman, an skilled in hate speech and disinformation in Bangladesh.

Following the hasty departure of Sheikh Hasina, issues have come to a head as soon as once more, “as Hindus felt insecure within the absence of the federal government and efficient legislation and order”, says Prof Al-Zaman.

The false narratives have made the scenario worse. “Worry-mongering by these influencers is inflaming the stress.”

A few of these posts falsely claiming that Hindus have been focused by Muslims have been shared by accounts far faraway from both Bangladesh or India.

Tommy Robinson who has been criticised for posting inflammatory messages concerning the violent riots focusing on Muslims and immigrants throughout the UK, has been sharing unverified movies from Bangladesh, the place he says there’s “a genocide on Hindus”.

We have now investigated one video shared by him. It exhibits a girl pleading for her husband’s life as her house is attacked. The submit falsely claims the property is being focused by “Islamists”. The unique video was shared on 6 August, onde day after the property had been attacked.

Nonetheless, when the BBC investigated the story behind the video, a distinct narrative emerged.

We had been instructed by a bunch of native college students who had assisted the girl in defending her property that the dispute was about a wholly completely different matter. They shared images and movies of the clean-up with the BBC which present the property as seen within the authentic video. The Hindu temple contained in the property is unhurt.

“The battle is about possession of land. A case was filed way back,” a pupil instructed us. A case has been in native courts concerning the possession of the land for practically six months.

We’ve spoken to different individuals within the native space who’ve instructed us that the assault was not religiously motivated and that the perpetrators had been a mixture of Hindu and Muslim individuals. In addition they reported that different Hindu households and temples within the space weren’t affected.

Tommy Robinson didn’t reply to our request for remark.

Understanding precisely what has occurred in Bangladesh over the previous couple of weeks has proved troublesome.

Many actual incidents and assaults have taken place throughout the nation, however the motivations are troublesome to evaluate: faith or politics.

The 2 are carefully entwined: one Hindu resident defined how the minority are largely considered as supporters of Sheikh Hasina’s secular Awami League get together.

AFP fact-checker for Bangladesh, Qadaruddin Shishir, instructed the BBC that there have been assaults on Hindu-owned properties.

However, he mentioned, “right-wing Indian accounts are spreading these politically motivated assaults as spiritual ones.”

Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a non-profit established to guard minority human rights, reported 5 Hindu individuals killed. Two have been confirmed as Awami League members.

The AFP has put the depend of Muslim Awami League leaders’ who’ve been killed at greater than 50.

When false claims about assaults on Hindus went viral on-line, some Muslim protesters determined to protect Hindu temples.

“It’s our accountability to guard them,” mentioned Moinul, who stood watch final week in entrance of a temple in Hatharazi, outdoors of Chittagong.

Viral social media posts had been making an attempt to “incite battle between Hindus and Muslims,” mentioned Moinul. “However we’re not falling for it.”

Choton Banik, an area Hindu within the space who attended the temple, requested that they proceed their effort “by this vital time.”

“I hope that we are going to proceed to reside collectively on this unbiased Bangladesh sooner or later,” he mentioned.

Further reporting by Kumar Malhotra and Josh Cheetham