A video from 2017 of a police mock drill is doing the rounds on WhatsApp and Twitter, calling it footage of the police firing in Mangaluru in the November 19 protests.
In the video, one can see men in uniform and green helmets kneeling on the ground, holding rifles and shooting at a few people standing across the road. Shots are fired, and the crowd around disperses as two people fall down. Then, stretchers are brought and the one who fell are taken away in an ambulance that appears immediately.
This video is not of any real police encounter or firing, but from a Jharkhand police mock drill that took place in November 2017, in Khunti district, as reported by BoomLive.
However, after two people were killed in police firing in Mangaluru on Thursday evening, this video started doing the rounds and people claimed that this was a video of police shooting people with impunity.
Along with the video, this message has also been doing the rounds. “The wrongful district administration is responsible for Mangaluru violence. The situation had not escalated so much that shots had to be fired. Let them deploy honest police officers. There has to be a high level probe into what happened today. People should also be sensitive and maintain peace in the district."
While it is true that police did shoot at protesters after the protests turned violent and there was stone pelting. Two people died and were declared brought dead at the private hospital they were taken to. While one had been shot on his head, another was shot in the stomach.
This is not the first time that this particular footage was misused by people. Boomlive also reported that in August this year the video in question was shared by many on Twitter, saying that this is how the army was shooting at Kashmiri protesters. This was shared after the announcement of the abolition of Article 370, which removed Jammu and Kashmir's special status.