No, video of ‘Muslim’ woman burning the French flag is not from France

By: Soham Shah
March 7 2024

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Post claiming a woman burned the French flag in France. (Source:X)

What is the claim?

In the light of a “radical” imam being expelled from France for calling the country’s flag “satanic,” a video of a woman is circulating on social media with the claim insinuating that she also insulted the Tricolor. Social media users claim that a ‘ Muslim woman’ burnt the national flag in France, and hence should be deported from the European nation. 

Such posts with communal undertones have surfaced at a time when France is reportedly witnessing a rise in ‘anti-Muslim’ racism in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza. Archived links to such posts can be accessed here and here. 

A post claiming that a 'Muslim' woman burned the French flag in France. (Source:X/ Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video is from Morocco, not France. 

What is the truth?

Several replies to a viral X post sharing the video claimed it was filmed in Morocco and not France. Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search in Arabic to get more details. We then came across an extended version of the viral video on YouTube posted by Moroccan media outlet Tanja News TV. Posted on on October 25, 2023, the video carried the title “Burning the flag of France in front of its consulate in Tangier” in Arabic. 

The woman burning the flag in the viral video was also visible (around the 25:08 timestamp) in a livestream by Tanja News TV. The video report documented a protest by the Moroccan public outside the French embassy in Tangiers.  (France is not only one of Morocco’s prime trade partners but had also colonized the African country till 1956.)

The same woman from the viral video can be spotted in the Tanja News TV livestream. (Source:X/ Tanja News TV/ Modified by Logically Facts)

Multiple local news outlets also covered protests that took place outside the French consulate in Tangiers on October 24, 2023, against the French government’s support of Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has left over 30,000 dead so far. 

The Moroccan Police uniform

We noticed a red badge on the shoulder of security personnel visible in the viral video and ran a Google search for the official Moroccan Police uniform. This led us to a photo of Moroccan Police taken by Jalal Morchidi for Anadolu Agency on Getty Images. We could see the same red badge in the photo as seen in the viral video.

The badge seen in the viral clip is the same one that dons the uniform of the Moroccan Police. (Source: X, Jalal Morchidi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/Modified by Logically Facts)

We also found local Arabic news reports from January 2017 detailing new police uniforms, with a “red cotton badge at shoulder level that bears the police logo,” which were brought to modernize the National Security Service. This badge was also similar to the one seen in the viral clip.

Multiple news reports and the presence of the Moroccan Police at the incident seen in the viral video prove that the video shows a protest in Morocco, not France. 

The verdict
We have marked this claim as misleading as the woman in question burnt the French flag not in France but during a protest outside the French embassy in Tangiers, Morocco.