By: Praveen Kumar
December 18 2023
Old Black Lives Matter protest video of truck driving through a crowd shared as U.S. pro-Palestine protest
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A 2020 video of a BLM protest in which a truck drives through a crowd of protesters has been reshared, claiming to show the recent protest on the 110 freeway in Los Angeles. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
This is an old video from a Black Lives Matter protest in Oklahoma in 2020. It is unrelated to the recent pro-Palestine protests on the LA freeway.
Claim ID 6491bbb8
Context
On October 23, 2023, a vehicle drove through a crowd of people during a pro-Palestine protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Later an aerial shot of the incident involving a white car was uploaded to YouTube by Crux on October 23 with the headline, “Car Drives Through Pro-Palestine Rally in US.”
ABC7 reported that on December 14, protesters drove onto the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles, calling for an end to the U.S. support for Israel and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. They reportedly got out of their vehicles and blocked all southbound lanes.
What is the claim?
Social media users shared a video of a red pickup truck driving through a crowd of people, claiming it was from the recent protest on the LA freeway, captioned “A truck drives through a crowd of #Palestine protesters blocking the freeway in Los Angeles.”
This video and claim have been shared on X, which has gained over a million views. The archived posts can be found here, here, and here.
The video went viral on X with a caption about the recent protest on the LA freeway. (Source: X/screenshots)
However, this is an old video from a Black Lives Matter protest in Oklahoma in 2020 and is not related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
What we found
A reverse image search of screenshots of the viral video led us to news videos from 2020. NBC News uploaded the video on its YouTube channel with the title, “Truck Plows Into Group Of Oklahoma Protesters” on June 2, 2020. The video description reads, “A truck plowed into a group of Black Lives Matter protesters blocking I-244 in Tulsa, Okla. Injuries were reported as a result of the incident. This is one of many demonstrations happening nationwide over the death of George Floyd.”
NBC News report of the 2020 BLM protest from Oklahoma. (Source: YouTube)
The same incident, filmed from a different angle, was also used in a report by KTUL ABC 8 on July 24, 2020, which stated that the incident took place on Interstate 244 on May 31, 2020. 2 News Oklahoma reported on July 23, 2020, that a Dodge pickup truck pulling a horse trailer attempted to drive through the crowd, and multiple protesters assaulted the truck. The truck then sped through the crowd. Reportedly, three people were injured during the incident.
Comparison of visuals in the viral video and 2020 news video reports. (Source: X, KTUL ABC 8/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)
Comparison of visuals in the viral video and 2020 news video reports. (Source: X, NBC News/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)
The visuals in the video clips used in the above-mentioned 2020 news reports are the same as in the viral video; the front end of the pickup truck is red, and one of the protesters banging on it after it drives through the crowd can be seen in a black t-shirt wearing a red drawstring bag.
The verdict
This is an old video of a truck driving through a crowd of protesters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in May 2020 and is not connected to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The original video showed people protesting the death of George Floyd when the incident took place. It has nothing to do with a recent protest on the LA freeway calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.