Sam Tilston

Cyclone Arnab hit the Andhra Pradesh coast on 28 Oct. A lot of the "Arnab footage" going round today is not Arnab. India Today Fact Check traced four viral clips. One is a tornado in Vaishali, Bihar, posted on 27 Sept. One is a tornado in Mayurbhanj, Odisha, from March. One is Super Typhoon Bavi in the western Pacific, from July. One was already online on 29 May. According to India Today, the Bihar clip was also shared as Arnab by ABP News Gujarati and Times Now. The storm is real. The pictures are recycled. Check when a disaster video was first posted before you share it. Sources: India Today Fact Check and Newschecker, both 28 Oct.

Helen Haines was attacked this week. Within days, a Facebook page run from Vietnam was inventing quotes about it, attributed to her husband, an eyewitness and Allegra Spender. None of those quotes match the hospital statement or Hansard. Meta's own data puts the operators in Vietnam. The posts send people to an ad farm. Same week: fake Australian and Sydney Morning Herald headlines about Jordon Steele-John. They started as Grok Imagine satire. Once screenshotted, the satire label was gone. Yesterday it was Pauline Hanson. Today Haines and Steele-John. Foreign clickbait farms are turning Australian tragedies into traffic. Labelled AI satire becomes "news" the moment someone crops the label. AAP FactCheck:

𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁? 𝗡𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 Blast published a letter tonight from PM Sébastien Lecornu to Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom. It's dated 22 October. It asks them to be ready to suspend TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram for a few hours this weekend if the violence comes back. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 It's a request to get ready, not an order to cut. The letter itself calls the move exploratory. I can't find any report that a block was actually switched on today. Matignon and the operators hadn't commented publicly when the letter came out. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗫 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Some posts say X is on the list. AlloForfait, which read the letter, says X isn't named in it. Blast says it was added after the letter went out. So that part rests on Blast for now. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 DNS filtering, mainly on mobile data. A VPN or a different DNS gets round it. The Conseil d'État struck down the 2024 TikTok block in New Caledonia, so any real cut would face a legal fight. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Blast, AlloForfait, Frandroid, Le Parisien

𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 A clip shared by MP Raphaël Arnault says far-right groups attacked marchers in front of the CRS, and then police charged the march. Local reporting backs part of that. France 3 Occitanie says a small group wearing white armbands, described as identitarian far right, got into the crowd around 5pm. Scuffles followed and they took cover behind the CRS, who stepped in between. Midi Libre tells it a bit differently. It says a group of about fifteen men with white armbands was set upon by marchers, and that the far-right label came from protesters. Bottles were thrown and police used tear gas on place de la Comédie. So two outlets report the armband group. Who started it isn't settled. The march itself was banned and went ahead anyway, around 4,000 people by the préfète's count. 𝗟𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲 A widely shared post says a CRS officer took a paving stone full in the face. I can't confirm that detail. The Nord préfecture says firefighters treated two people for light injuries, one of them a CRS officer. It says 17 police were hurt over the day and 64 people were arrested in Nord, 57 of them in Lille. Turnout was 15,000 by the préfecture, 60,000 by organisers. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 France 3 Occitanie, Midi Libre, Préfecture du Nord, Actu Lille, France 3 Hauts-de-France

𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆: 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝟮𝟬, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 Earlier I said the "hand torn off" claim in Toulouse wasn't confirmed. The Haute-Garonne préfecture now confirms a 20-year-old man was seriously hurt in the hand at the end of the march, in the Arènes area, while police were dispersing a crowd. AFP, BFMTV and Le Parisien all carry it. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻 The préfecture says the circumstances aren't known yet and the judicial authorities will investigate. A street medic who treated him told AFP several fingers on his right hand were torn off after something exploded near him. Witnesses quoted by Actu Toulouse blame a police grenade. The préfecture hasn't confirmed that. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 Some posts with thousands of views call him a child or a teenager. He's 20. AFP saw people throwing stones and bottles at police in that spot, and police using dispersal grenades and tear gas. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘁 The préfecture puts the Toulouse march at 26,500. The CGT says 80,000. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Préfecture de Haute-Garonne, AFP, BFMTV, Le Parisien, TF1 Info, Actu Toulouse

𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘅: 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝟭𝟱,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝟭𝟮𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 The préfecture puts today's Bordeaux march at 15,500, as reported by Anadolu. Sud Ouest says about 15,000. A post going round says 120,000. I can't find any outlet or official source for that number. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 The march went ahead on the unions' route even though the préfète had banned protests in the city centre. The administrative court upheld that ban this afternoon. Sud Ouest and France 3 say it was calm until the end, then turned tense at place de la Bourse. Cobblestones were pulled up and thrown, and police used tear gas. France 3 says groups then moved to place de la Victoire and set bins on fire on the tram tracks. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 Some marchers say police gassed a peaceful crowd. I haven't seen anything yet that settles that either way. 𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗯𝘆 The Pyrénées-Atlantiques préfecture counts 6,200 marchers today, 2,000 in Pau and 4,200 in Bayonne, with 48 arrests, according to France 3. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Préfecture de la Gironde via Anadolu, Sud Ouest, France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine

𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝟰𝟭𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱, 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝟭,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘁 Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez puts today's turnout at 410,000 across France, with 289 street actions logged. The CGT says around 800,000. That's via franceinfo, BFMTV and LCI. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 Nuñez says there have been close to 1,000 arrests so far and he expects the number to rise quite a bit tonight. franceinfo notes it was 389 at the same point last Saturday. Toulon alone is at 55, according to the préfecture via BFMTV. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Nuñez also said the marches themselves went well. The clashes we've seen today mostly came at the end of marches or in banned zones, like Vincennes in Paris, Rennes and Grenoble. A big arrest number doesn't mean every march turned violent. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 franceinfo, BFMTV, LCI

𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿é𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 The Préfète de l'Hérault has put out a bilan for the day. The only declared march was banned and gatherings in the centre were banned too. A march went ahead anyway, in several groups, and peaked at about 6,300 people by her count. Police used tear gas several times. The préfecture says that was to disperse people chanting against police and throwing projectiles. About 200 people were still on the place de la Comédie this evening. Provisional figures: 8 arrests and two CRS officers hurt. The préfecture says no specific damage so far and the shops police were guarding weren't touched. So the Comédie tear gas clips are real. Claims of looting in Montpellier aren't backed by anything official yet. 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀 The march here was banned too. The Préfète de Bretagne says several hundred people attacked police and officers carried out big manoeuvres to stop it and protect shops. At around 19:30 French time she said small groups were still throwing things at police and putting up barricades near the station and place Charles de Gaulle. Some marchers say police moved on a peaceful crowd first. I haven't seen footage that settles who started it, so I'd treat both accounts with care. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Préfète de l'Hérault, Préfète de Bretagne et d'Ille-et-Vilaine

𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁-𝗙𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗿𝘆: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 Posts with thousands of views say a young protester in Clermont-Ferrand had his fingers ripped off, or lost his hand, to a police grenade. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿é𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 The Puy-de-Dôme préfecture told France 3 Auvergne the person was hurt "à la main sans arrachement de doigts ou de perte de la main". So no fingers torn off and no hand lost. It says it's too early to say what caused the injury. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 BFMTV says the person was seriously hurt and treated urgently by emergency services. France 3 Auvergne reports three protesters hurt in Clermont, two of them lightly, and one CRS officer. A police source put 1,600 people on place de Jaude late afternoon before the crowd was dispersed. 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 A serious injury is serious whatever caused it. But the grenade cause isn't confirmed, and the gory "fingers gone" version is contradicted by the only official account so far. I'd wait for more detail before sharing it. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 France 3 Auvergne, BFMTV, Préfète du Puy-de-Dôme

𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗲: 𝗳𝗮𝗿-𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝟭𝟭 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 BFMTV reports a far-right group attacked marchers at the Nice cost of living protest this afternoon. Its live feed now says 11 people from the ultra right have been arrested and three people were hurt. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝘂𝗻 Some accounts are selling this as patriots "protecting France" from leftists. BFMTV's reporters on the ground describe it the other way round. Peaceful protesters were set upon. Others say far right and far left are fighting "everywhere in France" and call it civil war. I can't find any outlet backing that. Nice is the one confirmed case so far. 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 How badly the three are hurt, and who the group is. I haven't seen a préfecture statement yet. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 BFMTV

𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲: 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 Earlier I passed on Le Dauphiné Libéré's report of about thirty people stoning shops. The préfète de l'Isère now says close to 400 masked people in black bloc attacked police with fireworks mortars and projectiles on the edges of the march, around 16:55 Paris time. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 Le Dauphiné Libéré filmed people breaking into a food shop and throwing cans, crisps and pizzas to the crowd. Some marchers booed them. ICI Isère then reported clashes on boulevard Clémenceau after the march ended. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 The Isère préfecture set a curfew from 18:00 tonight for the city centre and several shopping areas, ICI Isère reports. That one isn't a rumour. 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 "𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘄" The looting clip first ran around 17:20 Paris. Some accounts are reposting it an hour and a half later as live. And one "ALERTE INFO EN DIRECT DE GRENOBLE" caption has been pasted word for word by different accounts hours apart. Check the time before you share. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Préfète de l'Isère, Le Dauphiné Libéré, ICI Isère

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗳𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀 The préfecture de police says more than 500 "casseurs" are going at police on the cours de Vincennes, near the end of the march. BFMTV carried that around 18:30 Paris time. franceinfo and AFP confirm a water cannon and tear gas after projectiles were thrown. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 The Interior Ministry told AFP that 410,000 people marched across France today, 110,000 of them in Paris. The CGT says about 800,000, with 250,000 in Paris. That's a big gap, so expect both numbers to get quoted as fact tonight. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗳𝗲𝘄𝘀 Some posts say there's a curfew in "10 cities" tonight. I can't find a source for that. What's confirmed is narrower, and none of it is citywide. Paris: place de la République and Les Halles, 23:00 to 6:00, by préfecture de police order (franceinfo, Ouest-France). Lyon: the presqu'île, 23:00 to 6:00 (préfecture du Rhône). Marseille: the centre and several shopping zones, plus Aubagne and Plan de Campagne, 23:00 to 5:00 (Bouches-du-Rhône préfecture, France 3 Provence). 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 Préfecture de police, BFMTV, franceinfo, AFP, Ouest-France, Préfecture du Rhône, France 3 Provence

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀: 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 The authorised march from Porte d'Italie stayed calm most of the way. At the finish, Porte de Vincennes, BFMTV reports police used a water cannon and tear gas. BFMTV also reports a car dealership was targeted in Paris. 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝘁 Some marchers say they're being held in near Porte de Vincennes. I haven't seen police or press confirm that. Telegram calls for an 8pm Concorde meet are activist chatter, not an authorised march. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝗽 Paris police counted 110,000 (franceinfo). The CGT says 250,000 in Paris and close to 800,000 across France (BFMTV). 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 Earlier I said the viral "hand torn off" claim was unconfirmed. The Haute-Garonne préfecture now says one person was seriously injured in the hand. It says the cause isn't known yet and investigations will follow, per BFMTV. So the injury is real. How it happened is still open. 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 BFMTV, franceinfo, Préfecture de police de Paris, Préfecture de la Haute-Garonne