Pro-Palestinian protest video shows flags of an Indian political party, not Italy’s

A video of a pro-Palestinian demonstration is being shared on social media as an example of a gaffe. 

In the video, people can be seen walking down the street waving flags with a green, a white and a red stripe.

Signs read: "Save Gaza," "Stand with Palastine" — misspelling "Palestine" — and "Welfare Party Kerala." 

Text over the video says: "Protesters in Kerala India accidentally brought the Italian flag instead of the Palestine flag to pro-Hamas protest."

An Oct. 21 Instagram post sharing the video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Although the flags demonstrators wave in the video resemble the Italian flag, they’re actually flags for the Welfare Party of India. An illustration of the green, white and red flag appears next to the words "Welfare Party" on one of the signs.

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The Kerala branch of the Welfare Party posted on X on Oct. 22 that "the Welfare Party Kerala State Committee organized a massive rally and public conference in the city of Kozhikode, Kerala, to protest Israel’s war crimes and massacres in Gaza and express solidarity with the people of Gaza."

"It has come to our attention," the party continued on X, that some people are "spreading false propaganda" and claiming "that the national flag of Italy was used instead of the Palestinian flag in the aforementioned rally. This campaign is rooted in the similarities between the colors of the Welfare Party flag and that national flag of Italy." 

We rate claims protesters in India accidentally used an Italian flag instead of a Palestinian one False.