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As China deployed security services across several major cities to quell nationwide protests in November 2022, a clip that appears to show a police car hitting a crowd has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in false social media posts claiming it was filmed in Shanghai. In reality, the video was shot in Washington state in the United States in January 2021. The clip has been viewed more than 470,000 times since it was shared on Twitter on November 28, 2022. The eight-second clip appears to show a police car running into a crowd and driving away. Shanghai police kill people, the clip's traditional Chinese caption reads. A screenshot, taken on November 29, 2022, of the misleading post. The post circulated as China mobilised its vast security apparatus to smother protests across the country, with frustration over heavy-handed Covid rules bubbling over after a fire in a locked down building in Urumqi in the northwestern Xinjiang region killed 10 people last week, AFP reported . Demonstrators across China said Covid restrictions were to blame for hampering rescue efforts in Urumqi, claims the government swiftly denied. China is the world's last major economy still wedded to a zero-Covid policy, which compels local governments to impose snap lockdowns and quarantine orders, and limit freedom of movement in response to minor outbreaks. Anger over the lockdowns has widened to calls for political change, with protesters holding up blank sheets of paper to symbolise the pervasive censorship to which the world's most populous country is subjected. China's top security body has since called for a crackdown against hostile forces . The same clip was also shared with a similar false claim on Twitter , Facebook and Gettr . Although some social media users pointed out the video was not filmed in Shanghai, other comments indicated some thought it was. One commented: Police are vicious! Driving over people with tanks! Another wrote: The Communist Party is too evil! Friends in China, stay safe! However, combined Google reverse image and keyword searches found the clip was filmed in the United States in January 2021. US police car The video was posted here on Twitter on January 24, 2021. Its caption reads: 9th and Pacific Ave in Tacoma. 9th and Pacific Ave in Tacoma pic.twitter.com/C76iq2Eimw — Jason Gauthier (@jasonjgauthier) January 24, 2021 Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the false post (left) and the Twitter video from 2021 (right): Screenshot comparison Building structures seen in the video correspond with Google street imagery of an intersection in Tacoma, a city in the US state of Washington. Below is a screenshot comparison of a keyframe in the video (left) and its corresponding Google street view (right): A screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the Google street view imagery (right) with similarities circled in red by AFP. Footage of the same incident from a different angle has also been featured in a report by Washington-based news organisation KING 5 News that was posted on YouTube on January 24, 2021. The YouTube video's caption reads in part: Videos circulating on social media show a Tacoma Police Department (TPD) vehicle driving over at least one person on a city street and 'may have impacted others,' according to a police statement. The incident happened after police responded to a large crowd in the area of S. 9th and Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma shortly after 6 p.m. An AFP report at the time, quoting authorities, said a police officer was surrounded by a crowd and injured at least one person with his car as he sought to drive away. The officer was reportedly trying to clear the intersection that had been blocked by an illegal car rally. Police use of force is a particularly sensitive issue in the United States, which at the time of the incident saw nationwide protests over police brutality towards Black people.
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