AI footage shows fake aftermath of Khan protests DW 11/29/2024

A major demonstration by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was called off on Wednesday. Protesters in Islamabad were demanding Khan's release.

Events intensified and turned violent as protesters were in the final stretch leading to the “red zone” in the capital, Islamabad, where all major government buildings are located. Police and army rangers clashed with protesters, using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Police fired tear gas shells to disperse PTI supporters during a demonstration that turned violentImage: Aamir Qureshi/AFP

Pakistani media reported that a massive raid was launched by security forces overnight in the capital, leading to the dispersal of PTI protests. However, the exact course of events remains unclear, as does the number of people killed. According to official sources, at least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two demonstrators, were killed during the demonstrations.

However, Khan's PTI members and supporters claim that up to 300 people were killed, as police and armed forces fired live ammunition at them.

Several users shared images and videos of the raid's aftermath on social media under the hashtag #IslamabadMassacre.

However, not all of them are real. Some of the images shared are either AI-generated or edited, and some are even presented out of context.

False evidence of violence in Islamabad

Claim: “At least more than 100 people were martyred. Now the bodies are hidden,” claims a user on on Facebook, Instagram, Threads or Youtube. The image purports to show Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad covered in blood following clashes between protesters and the police and army. This would reflect the high number of casualties caused by security forces.

DW Fact Check: False

In the image, also attached to this Insta post, we see a photo of a main avenue of a city and two people walking along the road covered in blood. However, if you look at the image, it does not show Jinnah Avenue, where the incidents took place on Tuesday evening. Jinnah Avenue is a long two-lane road that goes in both directions and is divided by an avenue of small shrubs down the middle, as you can see in satellite images and images displayed on Google Maps, for example. This is not the case in the image.

Additionally, the image itself contains many clues that it is AI-generated. In this case, you can see indications for AI in the attached image. In the left half of the image we see three blue buses, but the middle one is only half of them. The two people in the front and center of the image also have abnormalities. The feet of the person on the right are strangely positioned and the shadows corresponding to the person on the left do not correspond to the same person. The shadows of his arms appear cut off, and under the shadow of his left arm there is an extra piece of shadow that doesn't match his jacket and looks like an extra arm. And the windows of the building in the background don't line up, an error we see very often in AI images.

PTI party releases fake image of AI

Claim: A second AI image spread can be seen in this Instagram post by the PTI itself. The official party report writes: “Islam is reborn after every sacrifice!” #IslamabadMassacre. » The image shows a large street full of blood.

DW Fact Check: False

At first glance and in comparison with the current Jinnah Avenue, we also see here that it is not the same road. And here too, we can see elements suggesting that this image is generated by AI. The light comes from the north of the image and seems very artificial, like stage lighting. The blood also shows an obvious pattern, which is very unlikely after such a tumultuous event. The roofs of the buildings on the left and right also have odd angles that don't match their construction.

A side-by-side comparison shows what Jinnah Avenue actually looks like. Image: Muhammed Semih Ugurlu/AA/picture alliance &

Additionally, the second image shows many high-rise buildings, although in this area of ​​Islamabad there are only a few such buildings, all of which have a very distinctive architectural design, such as the Centaurus Mall, the Tower Telecom and Islamabad. Stock exchange or head office of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited.

Image of Gaza used out of context

DW Fact Check also noted an example of an older image being presented out of context and wrongly used by PTI supporters.

In the image shared in this viral post on X but also shared by many other accounts on various platforms, we see the back of an ambulance with six corpses and an injured person in the back. But this image does not come from Pakistan but from Gaza and was taken out of context.

However, this does not mean that there were no serious injuries, or even deaths, after the clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Numerous videos and images broadcast on various social media platforms as well as reports from journalists on the ground prove that the violence has repeatedly intensified.

Amnesty International also wrote on its threatened to deteriorate.

Violence during clashes

This viral video, for example, shows a PTI supporter kneeling on a container and praying, when four armed rangers climb the construction and then push him out of the building, causing the man to fall from three containers stacked on top of each other. others. The man's fate has not yet been determined, as reports of whether he is injured or even dead could not be independently verified.

Other videos and images (some very graphic) show injured or unconscious people, either swept away by protests or treated in nearby hospitals. However, not all of them show scenes from Pakistan. And the cause of the injuries is not clear.

The PTI circulated a list online purporting to show the names and details of those injured and dead during the protests. It was also shared in this post on X.

However, no exact figures have been confirmed so far.

DW spoke with various officials and eyewitnesses to the protests as well as hospital staff on the ground. Two medical staff from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), who were on duty during Tuesday night's clashes, told DW, on condition of anonymity, that the PTI's claim about the number of casualties was false.

“Two dead bodies were received at PIMS Hospital. One died due to severe tear gas with a history of asthma, and the clothes of the second deceased were soaked in blood and I saw his dead body,” a a PIMS medical staff member told DW.

A doctor also on duty that evening added: “On Tuesday evening, around twenty injured people were treated in the emergency room; many of them left after treatment because they were affected by the tear gas.”

Other witnesses, mainly journalists and videographers who were at the protest site throughout the day, told DW what they witnessed. Both painted a picture of chaos and confusion, with physical violence perpetrated by both sides.

Scenes of chaos in the streets of Islamabad as armed forces tried to disperse protesters Image: Aamir Qureshi/AFP

“During the operation, rubber bullets and live ammunition were used, which created confusion. I saw injured people on the roads and, with smoke filling the air, it was difficult to manage the situation while ensuring our safety. I saw people rescuing a protester who was seriously injured. When the government launched the big operation, all the lights in the city were turned off, which added to the chaos. The Rangers were present, they kept asking us to turn off our cameras and kind of harassed us too,” Ramna Saeed, a local journalist, told DW.

Qurat ul Ain Shirazi, another journalist present at the protests, told DW: “I did not witness direct fire at the protesters and saw few people injured by the rubber bullets.” The PTI supporters pushed and kicked me. I was injured by a bullet. stick or similar object while they demanded our departure. My colleague was also brutalized. All this happened while our team was clearly identified by our press jackets.

DW spoke to Khan associate Zulfikar Bukhari, who claimed, without providing immediate evidence, that “40 protesters were killed on Tuesday night.”

Boris Geilert contributed to this report.

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