Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Hayat Norimine
By Hayat Norimine October 18, 2020

Photo doesn’t show Trump rally in Florida. It was a music festival in Switzerland

If Your Time is short

• The photo does not show a Trump rally in Florida. It shows Street Parade Zurich, a music festival in Switzerland.

• The photo dates back to 2018.

An image of a massive crowd on the streets is recirculating on social media. Only this time, it’s claimed as a photo of a recent Florida rally for President Donald Trump. 

"FLORIDA RALLY today….and the polls say Biden is winning," reads an Oct. 16 post by Rosa L Moreno-Hilburn.

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

Trump did hold a rally in Sanford, Fla., on Oct. 16. But the photo circulating on Facebook is not an image of Florida at all. It’s an image of Zurich, Switzerland, during an annual music festival before the coronavirus pandemic. 

Street Parade Zurich is a music event hosted every year in August and brings a crowd of hundreds of thousands on the city’s streets and over the Quaibrücke bridge, captured in the photo. This year’s parade was canceled due to the coronavirus. 

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

Street Parade Zurich President Joel Meier told PolitiFact the photo was taken on Aug. 11, 2018. A higher-resolution version of the image shared on Facebook can be found in Street Parade Zurich’s gallery from its 2018 event. Similar photos of the 2019 parade can also be found online. 

Just a couple months ago, in August, Facebook users falsely claimed that the photo captured protests in Berlin against coronavirus restrictions. That viral rumor was widely debunked by PolitiFact, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and WUSA9, a CBS affiliate. 

Featured Fact-check

Our ruling

The Facebook post claimed that a photo showed massive crowds for a Trump rally in Florida on Oct. 16.

The post used a dated photo of Street Parade Zurich, a music festival, over the city’s Quaibrucke bridge. The photo has existed since 2018. 

We rate this claim False. 

Our Sources

Facebook post, Oct. 16, 2020

PolitiFact, "Photo doesn’t show COVID-19 protest crowd in Germany. It’s from a techno parade in Switzerland," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

Reuters, "Fact check: Photo shows 2019 music event in Zurich, not coronavirus protest in Berlin," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

NPR, "Trump Holds Florida Rally a Week After COVID-19 Hospital Stay," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

WUSA9, "Verify: Viral photo of parade miscaptioned as COVID-19 protest," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

AFP, "This photo shows a street parade in Switzerland before the COVID-19 pandemic," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

Google Image Search, accessed Oct. 17, 2020

TinEye.com, accessed Oct. 17, 2020

StreetParade.com, "2018," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

StreetParade.com, "A Summer Without Street Parade," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

StreetParade.com, "When & where," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

Google Maps, "Bauschänzli," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

Google Maps, "Quaibrücke," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

StreetParade.com, "History," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

StreetParade.com, "2019," accessed Oct. 17, 2020

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Hayat Norimine

Photo doesn’t show Trump rally in Florida. It was a music festival in Switzerland

Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.

Sign me up