{"id":16630,"date":"2025-12-26T13:16:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=16630"},"modified":"2025-12-27T09:37:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T09:37:00","slug":"a-viral-video-claiming-to-show-a-go-home-anura-protest-is-edited-visuals-are-from-traffic-congestion-and-the-audio-is-from-an-old-protest-in-august-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/a-viral-video-claiming-to-show-a-go-home-anura-protest-is-edited-visuals-are-from-traffic-congestion-and-the-audio-is-from-an-old-protest-in-august-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Was there a public protest on Christmas Night with the slogan “Go Home Anura”? Find out the truth…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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A video of people protesting against the president and the government, chanting the slogan \u201cGo Home Anura\u201d, is circulating rapidly on social media. However, our analysis revealed that the viral clip had been altered. Let’s look at the viral claims first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social Media Posts:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A short video clip shared on social media showed scenes of people stuck in traffic chanting the slogan “Go Home Anura”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Facebook<\/a> | Archived Link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relevant video was widely circulated on social media as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook<\/a> Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We conducted a fact check to verify whether this video indeed showcased scenes of people protesting against the President and the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Although the audio of the video is formatted as a slogan in a protest, its frames do not match it. The frames show scenes of a traffic jam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original video from Christmas Eve does not feature the slogan ‘Go Home Anura’!<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Considering this discrepancy, we performed a reverse image search on the key frames. Accordingly, we saw that the video was taken during a traffic jam that occurred in Colombo on Christmas night (25th December).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that yesterday (25) was Christmas Day, Colombo was ablaze with festive celebrations. There was also heavy traffic congestion due to the large crowd that had gathered in Colombo to watch Christmas splendour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, it is evident that the sequence of scenes in the shared video was recorded during the traffic jam that occurred yesterday. The video was posted on social media as follows, with the caption \u201cCurrent situation on Marine Drive\u201d. The media also reported on the traffic jam as follows<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These reports and other media outlets did not report any protest against the President yesterday (25) as described above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An audio recording of a protest, when former President Ranil was arrested in August 2025, was used to create the misleading clip!<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It was also clear that the audio clip used for the viral video was the audio clip of the protest held in front of the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on 25th August 2025, protesting against the arrest of Ranil Wickremesinghe. The video with the audio used for the viral video was posted on social media as follows<\/a>.  The main media reported the protest as follows<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A note was also posted on a Facebook page claiming that the video was edited and posted for the first time. Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a comparison between the viral altered clip, the original clip with no background voice, and the protest from August 2025 with chants of “Anura Go Home”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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