Fact Check: Is this an image of people looting a shop in violence-hit Manipur

Manipur has been on the boil with violence breaking out on May 3 after the Naga and Kuki tribes organised a Tribal Solidarity March against the move to give Schedule Tribe status to the majority Meitei community.

According to reports, the protesters vandalised and set ablaze scores of houses, Temples, Churches and vehicles during the protest. Even as the armed forces were rushed to the state, then DGP of Manipur said that protesters looted arms and ammunition from 23 sensitive police stations in the Imphal Valley and other districts.

Now some posts have gone viral with the claim that people are looting shops amidst the violent protests in Manipur, Rajesh Sharma, the Aam Aadmi Party's in-charge for northeastern states took to Twitter and shared an image which shows people looting a shop. "BJP is a failed govt in Manipur, its responsibility of govt to save property & lives of people? Shame on BJP," Sharma wrote while captioning the image.

We have learnt that the image is an old one and not related to Manipur, but is from Philippines. A reverse image search led us to a video which was shared by Yahoo News from March 1. As per this report the incidScreenshot 2023-05-06 at 10.23.03 AM.pngent was reported from the secondhand goods store at Lucena City in the Philippines. The crowd acceding to the report entered the shop during a special sale on February 24.

The shop had announced new arrivals on February 24, following which a large number of people camped outside the shop even before the doors could open. Mildred Garcia the owner of the shop had said that though she was used to the excitement by the customers, whenever new arrivals were announced, thew wildly excited crowd which appeared outside her store on February 24 came as a surprise to her.

It is hence clear that the image being shown of a crowd inside a shop is from Philippines and not from Manipur as claimed.