STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.
Does a video show French prisoners celebrating the killing of two police officers in an ambush in May 2024? No, that's not true: The video predates the attack by almost a year. The ambush happened as a prisoner named Mohamed Amra rode in a prison van; a car struck the van and gunmen shot the two officers, allowing Amra to escape.
The claim appeared in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on May 16, 2024. The post included a video of people emerging excitedly from behind doors. The video did not have any sound. The post's caption read:
In France after the murder of two prison guards during the ambush to free Mohammed Amra (known as 'The Fly'), near Rouen, prisoners are celebrating. The usual bunch as always.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu May 16 20:06:53 2024 UTC)
The video has been online since at least June 26, 2023, as shown in this post made on X. It was also posted at least twice on X, as shown in two posts here and here
However, the ambush and killings referred to in the post occurred on May 14, 2024 (archived here). That means that the video predates the incident by nearly a month, at least; thus, it cannot show prisoners celebrating the deaths of the officers.
Lead Stories is searching for the origin of the video and will update this story with any relevant information.
Updates:
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2024-05-16T21:57:25Z 2024-05-16T21:57:25Z Added a 2023 post of the video.
