Video shows protesters invited into DC home in 2020, not 'rioters' in 2023 | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Video shows protesters breaking into a Washington, D.C. house on Oct. 28

An Oct. 28 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes a video showing a crowd of people rushing from a street into a home.

“10/28/23 – Protests in Washington DC are hitting next level as rioters rush people’s houses,” reads text superimposed on the video.

It received more than 4,000 likes in four days. Another version of the claim was shared more than 3,000 times on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The video shows a June 2020 protest in Washington, D.C. after the murder of George Floyd. The resident of the home invited protesters inside to avoid the police. They did not break in.

Resident urged protesters inside as curfew began in June 2020

While there have been an array of protests in the nation’s capital amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the video is not from this year. It was taken during protests around the country in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.

The clip matches a video included in a June 2020 report from WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. At that time, social media users claimed it showed “rioters and looters invading homes." The same video was shared on YouTube on June 2, 2020.

But as WUSA-TV reported, the person who lives in the home shown in the video welcomed protesters inside to wait out the curfew imposed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. The demonstrators were protesting the death of George Floyd when police began to pursue them.

"These were strangers, the invited guests, the community members and now we are family,” Rahul Dubey, the man who owns the home, told WUSA-TV. “I invited them in on Monday night and they are welcome to return here anytime."

He gave similar statements to other news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., confirming that he urged the protesters to enter his home.

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Dubey posted a BBC video clip showing the same scene from a different vantage point on his Instagram page, where he also posted a picture of food, cards and other gifts delivered to his home in the days after the protest.

Protesters stage a demonstration in support of a cease fire against the Palestinians in Gaza at the National Mall on Oct. 18, 2023, in Washington, DC.
Protesters stage a demonstration in support of a cease fire against the Palestinians in Gaza at the National Mall on Oct. 18, 2023, in Washington, DC.

USA TODAY has debunked a variety of claims stemming from rallies and protests, including that University of Pennsylvania students chanted "We want Jewish genocide" at a pro-Palestinian protest in October 2023, that no one was arrested inside the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, and that Black Lives Matter protesters faced no consequences after causing $2 billion worth of damage in summer 2020.

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

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim video shows protesters entering DC home in 2023 | Fact check