No, this video doesn’t show a Hamas supporter setting a British police officer on fire

A graphic video has gone viral with posts claiming a Hamas supporter set a British police officer on fire during a rally in London. 

The video is being shared across social media in the days following a large pro-Palestinian march in London’s Trafalgar Square. Thousands took to the streets to call for a halt to Israel’s bombing of Gaza. 

Israel and Hamas have been at war since Hamas killed more than 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7 and took hundreds hostage. Since then, Palestinian health officials say more than 10,000 people have been killed amid Israeli attacks on Gaza. Hamas is a militant group that controls the Gaza strip, where more than 2 million Palestinians live.

In the video, an officer can be seen surrounded by demonstrators. Someone approaches the officer from behind, pours a liquid on him and then lights him on fire. 

“A British policeman was set on fire at a Hamas demonstration. This is what Hamas terrorist supporters look like,” one post with more than 120,000 views on X says. 

THE QUESTION

Does this video show a Hamas supporter setting a police officer on fire during a demonstration in London? 

THE SOURCES

• Video published by The Telegraph in June 2020
• Google Maps
• News reports from June 2020
• InVid and RevEye, video forensics tools

THE ANSWER

No, this video doesn’t show a Hamas supporter setting a police officer on fire during a recent demonstration in London. It was filmed in 2020 during protests in Guadalajara, Mexico.

WHAT WE FOUND

The video does show a protester setting a police officer on fire during a violent demonstration, but it has nothing to do with the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. It was filmed during a June 2020 protest in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. 

Using InVid to isolate the keyframes in the video and RevEye to conduct a reverse image search, VERIFY was able to match the video to one posted on YouTube by British newspaper The Telegraph on June 5, 2020.

You can tell the videos are the same by focusing on details like the police officer's Mexican flag patch and the matching backgrounds. The only difference is that the videos are inverted – in the viral video being shared, the officer is facing right and in the original video, he is facing to the left.

VERIFY was able to confirm by matching visuals of the location with Google Maps that this was taken from the 300 block of Juarez Avenue in Guadalajara, not in London. Signage for C. Universitario Azteca can be seen in the background of the viral video, and a McDonald’s on the other side of the street can also be seen.

According to The Telegraph’s video caption, the police officer was set on fire during demonstrations in Guadalajara over the death of 30-year-old Giovanni Lopez, who died while in police custody. 

According to a Mexico News Daily report, Lopez was arrested in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos in early May 2020 for not wearing a face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Three officers accused of beating Lopez while he was in custody were arrested in connection with his death.

In June 2020, a video of Lopez’s arrest went viral on social media and protests against police brutality broke out across Jalisco. 

The Mexico News Daily report said that during the protest, a protester “approached a state police officer who had arrived at the scene on a motorcycle, poured a flammable liquid on his back and set him on fire.” That aligns with what can be seen happening in the video being shared with the false claims it was taken during a recent demonstration in London. 

The officer lit on fire was treated for burns at a local hospital, Mexico News Daily reported.