Protesters supporting Palestinians waved political party's flag, not Italy's | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·2 min read
33
Students participate in a protest in support of Palestine and for free speech at Columbia University campus on November 14, 2023, in New York City.

The claim: Protesters mistakenly brought Italian flags to a protest in support of Palestinians

An Oct. 21 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of a group marching down a street carrying a pro-Palestine banner and flags with red, white and green stripes.

“Protesters In Kerala India Accidentally Brought The Italian Flag Instead Of The Palestine Flag To Pro-Hamas Protest,” reads on-screen text included in the video.

The post was liked more than 30,000 times in three weeks.

More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:

Fact check roundup: Israel-Hamas war sparks many misleading claims online. Here's what's true and false.

Our rating: False

The protesters are carrying the flag of the Welfare Party of India, not the Italian flag.

Protesters brought flag of political party

The video shows an Oct. 17 protest against Israel in the coastal city of Kozhikode in the Indian state of Kerala. It was organized by the Kerala State Committee of the Welfare Party of India, and the banner the group carries reads in part, "Welfare Party Kerala."

The tri-color flag seen throughout the clip is the party’s flag, not that of Italy.

The state committee posted Oct. 22 on X, formerly Twitter, about the rally and how similar the flags look.

“They claim that the national flag of Italy was used instead of the Palestinian flag in the aforementioned rally,” the post reads in part. “This campaign is rooted in the similarities between the colors of the Welfare Party flag and the national flag of Italy.”

Fact check: False claim video shows Turkey sending military support to Palestinians

The Welfare Party’s tri-color flag can be found throughout its website and on a 2015 picture on its Flickr account.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact, Lead Stories and Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

  • Welfare Party Kerala, Oct. 22, Post on X

  • Welfare Party of India, accessed Nov. 16, About us

  • Welfare Party of India (Flickr), uploaded March 9, 2015, Flag

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pro-Palestinian protesters brought political party flag | Fact check