Muslims Threatening Cops to Open Mosques Amid COVID Lockdown? No!

An old video of AIMIM leader Waris Pathan is being shared to claim that Muslims in Mumbai are not cooperating with the cops.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

A video showing a person confronting a policeman is being shared to insinuate that Muslims are not cooperating with the cops during the coronavirus lockdown and are demanding the Police to open mosques and allow prayers.

“If this is the situation, don't expect to open the lockdown on 3rd May (sic),” the claim along with the video reads.

An archived link of the post can be found here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

An archived link of the post can be found here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

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(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

“Deshmukh sahab, I have never disrupted law and order. These are innocent people who have been offering namaz at this mosque for 40 years. Don’t try to shut down the mosque or the loudspeakers. Don’t enter our mosques with shoes on,” the man in the video can be seen telling the cops.

The video is also being shared on Twitter with the same claim.

An archived version of the Tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The Quint can confirm that it is an old video and is being circulated now without context. The video is from 18 November 2016 when AIMIM leader Waris Pathan got into a spat with a police officer after the latter asked Pathan to lower the loudspeaker’s volume at a mosque.

WHAT WE FOUND

We were able to identify the man in the video as AIMIM leader Waris Pathan following which we conducted a Google keywords search using terms “AIMIM leader Waris Pathan Scuffle with Mumbai Police”. This directed us to the same video uploaded on YouTube on 18 November 2016 by a channel called Mumbai Live.

We also found the same video uploaded on 14 November 2016 on Waris Pathan’s official Facebook page.

Evidently, an old video of the former MLA arguing with a police officer is being shared with an insinuation that Muslims are demanding mosques to be opened during the COVID-19 lockdown.

(With inputs from SM HoaxSlayer)

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