A photo of a protest in Moscow in 1991 has been shared on social media with a false claim. The claim is that the picture is from a recent anti-lockdown protest in Vienna, Austria.
However, the original photo is of Manezh Square. Around 500,000 people gathered to call for the resignation of then-president Mikhail Gorbachev, according to Reuters.
Hundreds of social media users have mistakenly shared a 30-year-old photo of an anti-government rally in Moscow. The social media users believed the picture of the protest over COVID-19 measures in Vienna.
Claim:
The picture circulated online on Nov. 21. Furthermore, the picture became viral a day after 40,000 people demonstrated in the Austrian capital in opposition to the latest nationwide lockdown. The lockdown is scheduled to begin on Nov. 22.Along with the government’s decision to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory from Feb. 1.
The claim is that the image shared widely on social media is from the 2021 protest for Covid-19 measures in Austria.
Fact:
Meanwhile, the reality of the image is that it was actually taken on March 10, 1991, in Moscow’s Manezh Square next to the Kremlin. Protesters were demanding that Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev give up power – with the crowd estimated at 500,000.
However, that image may not be as real as you might think according to The Atlantic reports.
This protest in 1991 gathered an estimated 500,000 people calling for the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. By the end of the year, the Soviet Union had been dissolved.
However, the original picture was captured by Dominique Mollard, an Associated Press photographer, and it overlooks the city’s Manezh Square. The picture can be seen in The Atlantic article.
Moreover, Austria has now imposed a total lockdown for both unvaccinated & vaccinated people as COVID-19 cases continue to rise right across Europe, while also making the jab mandatory for everyone from February 2022.
