Video of Fire in a Church in France Falsely Linked To Manipur Violence

This video shows a church named Église Notre-Dame de Drosnay in France on fire.

Fact-check: A video showing a church on fire in France is going viral to claim that 'pro-BJP extremists' burned down a church in Manipur.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a church engulfed in a massive fire is going viral on social media to claim that this incident happened recently in Manipur.

• The claim also states that 'pro-BJP extremists' burned down this 300-year-old St Joseph's church as a part of the protest.

More about the protests: Manipur is witnessing an ongoing conflict between the tribal communities of Kukis and Meiteis, which has resulted in the deaths of over 150 people so far.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What is the truth?: The video is not from Manipur but from Drosnay, France.

• It shows Église Notre-Dame de Drosnay church on fire.

• This incident happened on 7 July.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video, which led us to a report by Hindustan Times from 8 July.

• The report carried the viral video and stated that it shows a 16th-century church on fire in North-Eastern France. 

The article was published on 8 July 2023.

(Source: HT/Screenshot)

• Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search and came across several French articles about this incident.

• One of the reports by France Info, a radio network operated by the French public service radio broadcaster, posted a report about the fire on 7 July.

• The report carried the viral video with several other shots of the church after it was completely damaged due to the massive fire.

• It stated that according to the Marne firefighters, 90 percent of the roof of this church in Drosnay had collapsed.

• It added that the reason for the start of fire is still unknown.

Drosnay church on Google maps: We also found the church's exact location in France on Google Maps which matched the viral video.

• We found a press release by Marne's The Regional Department of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) Grand Est about the incident.

• It was published on 7 July and stated that the half-timbered church in Drosnay, in the Marne, was destroyed by fire on 7 July.
  

Conclusion: A video showing a fire incident in a church in France is going viral to claim that 'pro-BJP extremists' burned down a church in Manipur.

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