Viral video does not show PTI supporters assaulting a local in London

The iVerify Pakistan team has investigated the claim and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a reverse image search to find the original source of the video.

A video was shared on social media platform X on July 26, 2024, with the claim that it showed PTI supporters attacking a British local for calling party founder Imran Khan a fascist. However, the video is actually crime footage from a cab stabbing in London.

Imran is currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail in a fresh Toshakhana case that was lodged in the immediate aftermath of his and his wife Bushra Bibi’s acquittal in the Iddat case, which was the last of a number of faces he had fought and cleared over the last year before being nominated in new cases.

Despite there being no end in sight to his legal troubles and his immediate future set to be behind bars due to the state’s never-ending supply of cases against him, Imran has decided to throw his name in the hat for one of the most prestigious administrative positions in British academia and will run for the position of chancellor of Oxford University.

HOW IT STARTED

On July 26, a user, who claimed to be a former PTI regional secretary general, shared a video on social media platform X with the caption: “PTI supporters attack and assault a British youth in Britain. The young man simply said that the chancellor of Oxford could not be a man who was a fascist or the father of an illegitimate daughter on which PTI activists got angry and attacked the young man. To save his life, the young man took refuge in a nearby car, but the PTI supporters were constantly beating him. PTI workers have become mad all over the world. This is truly a fascist party.”

The video showed a man getting into a car while attackers attempt to stab him from the right and left. The video also had the following caption in Urdu: “Why was Imran Khan called a fascist? The attack of a PTI gang with knives on a British youth in London.”

The post was viewed by over 94,000 people and shared over 600 times.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the matter since it pertained to the former prime minister and his party’s supporters.

A reverse image search conducted using multiple screenshots from the video led to different British news outlets reporting the same incident that occurred on June 23, 2024.

A report was published by the UK-based news outlet, The Sun, with the headline: “Taxi horror: Shocking moment machete-wielding thugs attack man in back of taxi before horrified cab driver makes quick getaway”.

According to the report, the footage, filmed inside a London cab at 5:10am on June 23, showed a man being brutally knifed by three assailants.

Later, the same incident was reported by The Independent, TMZ, and The Wimbledon Guardian, with none of the news stories mentioning or including anything about the alleged involvement of any PTI supporters in the incident.

Furthermore, news about Imran bidding for Oxford’s chancellorship was reported first on July 24, 2024, while the London stabbing incident is from June 23 so it could not be about PTI supporters getting angry over someone contesting Imran’s qualification to contest for the position.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding a video showing a British youth being assaulted by PTI workers for criticising Imran Khan is false.

The video is footage of a man being stabbed by masked men in London on June 23, 2024, and has no connection with the PTI or the matter of Imran running for the position of Oxford University’s chancellor.