A video of a crowd celebrating the opening of Spain’s famous bullfighting spectacle has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in posts that falsely claimed it shows a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Although there were media reports that a small number of revellers raised the Palestinian flag, the annual event in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona is unrelated to the Israel-Gaza war.
“Thousands of Spanish people show their solidarity for Palestine. Masya Allah, amazing support!” read the Indonesian caption of the TikTok post published on July 30, 2024.
The 25-second video — viewed hundreds of thousands of times — shows a crowd of people chanting and jumping on a street.
Large crowds have gathered across the world to protest Israel’s war on Hamas, which has killed at least 40,173 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run territory (archived link).
The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group’s deadly October 7 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The same video was shared with a similar false claim elsewhere on Facebook and X.
Comments on the posts indicated some users were misled to believe it showed a pro-Palestinian protest in Spain.
“Thank you Spain…may god bless you all…,” one wrote.
“Very nice of Spain,” said another.
However, the video is unrelated to the Israel-Gaza war.
Bull festival
Reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the video found the same clip was shared on July 7, 2024 on the social networking site Threads by a user with the handle “spainwayoflife”.
The caption reads: “San Fermín 2024 Open Ceremony”.
The San Fermín festival is an annual, week-long celebration held annually in Spain’s Pamplona city, with bull running as one of its most well-known traditions.
The opening ceremony of the festival is held in the Plaza Ayuntamiento. The buildings seen in the video corresponds to Google Maps street view imagery of the plaza (archived links here and here).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the footage used in the false post (left) and the image of the plaza on Google Maps street view (right), with corresponding features highlighted by AFP:
Local media reports here, here and here feature similar scenes of the crowd (archived links here, here and here).
Imago, a visual content agency based in Berlin, also captured a photo from the event showing the same crowd with the caption, “July 6, 2024, Pamplona, Navarre, Spain: Revellers enjoy the atmosphere during the opening day or Chupinazo of the San Fermin Running of the Bulls fiesta on July 06, 2024 in Pamplona, Spain” (archived link).
The Times of Israel reported that members of festive groups had unfolded a Palestinian flag during the bullfight in July 2024 (archived link). AFP photos also show Palestinian flags being raised at the Plaza Ayuntamiento (archived links here and here).
However, the festival is unrelated to the Israel-Gaza war.
AFP has debunked other false and misleading claims related to the war in Gaza here.
David Turner is a globe-trotting journalist who brings a global perspective to our readers. With a commitment to shedding light on international events, he explores complex geopolitical issues, offering a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
