Old images viral as police crackdown on students protesting against unemployment in Lucknow

Facebook user Sanjeeb Kashyap shared a set of photographs of police cracking down on protesters. “Providing jobs to unemployed youth today in Lucknow…Long live Yogi ji, you’re a tiger. (बेरोजगार छात्रों को आज लखनऊ में नौकरी देते हुवे …योगी जी जियो महाराज आप शेर हो शेर.)” – read the accompanying message. His post from September 13 drew 8,500 shares.

The images have been shared against the backdrop of growing unemployment in the country. A joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated job loss for 4.1 million youth due to COVID-19. India’s rural unemployment rate touched a nine-week high last month. On September 5, citizens across the country organised a ‘thali bajao’ protest at 5 pm for 5 minutes against rising prices and unemployment and the government’s decision to hold competitive examinations. The protests were also held in Uttar Pradesh.

Several Facebook and Twitter users have shared the images claiming students protested against joblessness in Uttar Pradesh.

बेरोजगार छात्रों को आज लखनऊ में
नौकरी देते हुवे …योगी जी
जियो महाराज आप शेर हो शेर …….#NationalUnemploymentDay #बेरोजगार_मांगे_रोजगार pic.twitter.com/MwAOFbeVQt

— Jay Singh (@singhjay96) September 17, 2020

Fact-check

We found that the photographs viral on social media are old. The first image of a bleeding man was found in a 2018 tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The photograph depicts protests held by young aspirants of UP teacher’s recruitment outside the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in November 2018. A report published by The Week on November 2, 2018, stated, “The police used canes to disperse people protesting here Friday against two court rulings that quashed the selection of over 12,000 government teachers and ordered a CBI probe into the process to appoint 68,500 more.”

This image was also debunked by Alt News last year when it was circulating with the false claim that goons of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thrashed supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The other two images are also of the same protest that took place in Lucknow two years ago. Twitter handle UttarPradesh.Org News tweeted one of the pictures captioned, “Protesters still adamant on their demand, they’re asking for 30 and 33 cut-off. (प्रदर्शनकारी अभी भी अपनी मांग पर अड़े, 30 और 33 कटऑफ की कर रहे मांग.)”