Far-right spreads false claims about Muslim attacks in Bangladesh

It’s the BBC

The videos are shocking: buildings burning, horrifying violence and women weeping as they plead for help.

They are – the people sharing them say – proof of a “Hindu genocide” happening in Bangladesh in the wake of the sudden fall of the country’s long-time leader, Sheikh Hasina.

But we found that many of the videos and claims shared online are false.

…reports on the ground have found violence and looting impacted Hindu people and properties, far-right influencers in neighbouring India shared false videos and information that gave a misleading view of the events.

They claimed to show communal violence against Hindus purportedly carried out by “Islamist radicals” with a violent agenda. One viral post claimed to show a temple set on fire by “Islamists in Bangladesh”. . . BBC Verify has determined that this building, identified as the Navagraha Temple in Chittagong, was undamaged by the incident which actually occurred at a nearby Awami League party office.

Then there was the school that burned down, which the BBC visited. Again, the reasons behind the attack appear to be political rather than religious.

Some of these posts falsely claiming that Hindus have been targeted by Muslims have been shared by accounts far removed from either Bangladesh or India.

Tommy Robinson who has been criticised for posting inflammatory messages about the violent riots targeting Muslims and immigrants across the UK, has been sharing unverified videos from Bangladesh, where he says there is “a genocide on Hindus”.

We have investigated one video shared by him. It shows a woman pleading for her husband’s life as her home is attacked. The post falsely claims the property is being targeted by “Islamists”. . . when the BBC investigated the story behind the video, a different narrative emerged. . . “The conflict is about ownership of land. A case was filed long ago,” a student told us.

Working out exactly what has happened in Bangladesh over the last few weeks has proved difficult.

Many real incidents and attacks have taken place across the country, but the motivations are difficult to assess: religion or politics. The two are closely entwined:

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

But, he said, “right-wing Indian accounts are spreading these politically motivated attacks as religious ones.”