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A person moving in a body bag, proof that an “actor” is pretending to be dead from Covid-19? For some accounts, this video, shared since February 7 in French, English and Polish, is new proof that actors are recruited to exaggerate the impact of the pandemic. In reality, these images are those of a report about a demonstration organized in Vienna by a movement in favor of climate action.
Verification in a nutshell:
- A video circulating in French, English and Polish claims to show a person who died of Covid-19 getting out of his body bag, proof according to those sharing the video that the pandemic is exaggerated
- This is actually a report by the Austrian media Oe24 on a climate action in Vienna on February 4
- The protesters had wrapped themselves in bags to show, in a symbolic way, that the climate emergency would lead to the death of many people if nothing is done, and their action had nothing to do with the pandemic
Verification details
The video, published on February 7 on Facebook, and which has more than 2,500 shares, shows a television screen on which, behind a journalist, dozens of bodies can be seen lying in body bags in the street. One of the demonstrators tries to adjust the tarp which covers it, because it flies away with the wind. The video was also shared on Twitter on February 7 by an account that regularly relays anti-vaccine content.
It is, according to these publications, an alleged new “proof” that “actors” have been recruited to maintain fear around the pandemic.
The video was also shared in English as in this Facebook post of February 16 or in Polish in this post on February 7 reaching 21,000 shares.
The video was originally posted on Tik Tok on February 5 with the hashtags “austria” and “news” in German (“Österreich” and “Nachrichten”). The caption does not refer to Covid-19.
A video of a protest for climate action
The words “Wien: Demo gegen Klima…” are displayed in the information banner, which would indicate that the event is a demonstration on the climate (“Demo” means “demonstration” and “Klima”, “climate”) in German).
By searching with the keywords “Demo gegen Klima” on Google, one can find the original video of the Austrian media Oe24, published on his YouTube channel on February 4, 2022.
We can spot the moment when the demonstrator tries to maintain the tarp despite the wind at 1’24 in the report.
The article published with the report on the Austrian media site explains that this is an event organized by “Fridays For Future”, an international movement of young protesters in favor of climate action.
According to the article, the organization “alerts on the risks that each ton of CO2 released poses to the climate crisis. In the afternoon, its activists placed 49 ‘climate body bags’ in front of the Federal Chancellery in Vienna”.
The “Fridays For Future” organization also posted an explanation on its Twitter account on February 4, 2022: “During a Fridays For Future action today, activists laid ‘deaths’ in front of the Chancellery. They symbolize the people who will die due to the failure of Austrian climate policy.”
Asked by the‘AFP Factualthe co-organizer of the event Verena Matlschweiger confirmed: “There is no link with the Covid. It was only to alert on the climate crisis. The ‘corpses’ were intended as a symbol”.
The editorial staff of France 24 Observers denied many images used as proof that the pandemic would be “exaggerated” or that the figures for hospitalization rates due to Covid-19 would be false.
To read on the Observers:
This video does not show “false Covid patients”… but ultra-realistic mannequins
The international intox of models in French hospitals to make believe in a pandemic
This video does not show fictional patients of the COVID-19 pandemic.