Video shows attack on mosque, not ‘Hindu temple in Bangladesh’

As religious unrest rages in Bangladesh following the arrest of a Hindu leader, social media users in neighboring India falsely claimed a video showed a group of “Sunni Bangladeshis” destroying “Hindu temples”. The building shown in the viral video is a mosque, the local manager told AFP, adding that those who attacked us were accused of inciting “anti-Islamic” acts.

“1000s of Sunni Bangladeshis break into Hindu Temples. While Hindus line up at Decathlon, Zara, etc to buy Made in Bangladesh items,” reads a post in English X shared on December 2, 2024.

The accompanying video shows a group of men with sticks and bricks trying to demolish the building.

Sunni Muslims are the largest sect within Islam and make up the majority of Bangladesh’s population (archived link).

A screenshot of the fake post was taken on December 7, 2024

Interfaith relations have been tumultuous in Bangladesh since a student-led revolution in August forced longtime independent prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to neighboring India.

On November 25, Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari — a spokesman for a newly formed Hindu group leading protests to protect minorities — was arrested on sedition charges (link saved).

He was denied bail by a court in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh, which led to clashes between his supporters and security forces outside the court.

Three Hindu temples in the city were also attacked on November 29 (archived link).

The same video was shared with similar claims on X and Facebook by users based in India with many Hindus believing the video shows the destruction of a Hindu temple.

However, the building in this clip is actually a Muslim shrine in Bangladesh.

A mosque

AFP found a similar video showing men beating the same building with sticks that was shared on Facebook on August 30, 2024 (archived link).

The Bengali language caption of the post says it shows the shrine built in honor of Hazrat Baba Ali Pagla being “demolished”.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video from the fake post (left) and the clip shared on Facebook (right):

Local media Bdnews24 published a report on the incident on August 31 and said the shrine was built to honor Ali Pagla — a local religious leader — after his death (link saved).

The report also published images showing the same incident seen in the fake video and said the attack was led by a local Muslim cleric, who was ousted by the villagers as a result of the incident.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the fake post (left) and the images used in the news report (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:

Eman Ali, son of Ali Pagla who takes care of the holy place, told AFP on December 9 that the building in the video was a mosque and not a Hindu temple.

He said the attack took place on August 29 when Muslims from a nearby mosque “destroyed the property of the temple”.

Ali said the attackers claimed that acts “against Islamic principles” had taken place at the holy site.