Fake Images of Clashes in France Circulating on Social Media Misleadingly Linked to Teen’s Death: Investigation Reveals Truth

Following the tragedy that led to the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a policeman in Nanterre on Tuesday June 27, clashes took place in several cities in France. Among the images of these clashes circulating on social networks, several publications show a policeman on the ground, his head bloodied. The scene, which caused a massive reaction (until a member of Eric Zemmour’s party), is presented as having been filmed in Bagneux, in the Hauts-de-Seine.

The sequence appears from June 28 on Twitter in the form of a screenshot of Snapchat stories (24-hour ephemeral publications). The saturated color of the images testifies to massive reposts. Shortly after midnight on June 29, other Twitter accounts, as well as the “Infinite Plug-In” Telegram channel, which tracks the various clashes since Nahel’s death, also post the alleged incident, which racks up hundreds of thousands. views through these different media.

However, on Twitter, various Internet users quickly report that the images are fictitious. One of them assures that they are extracted from a clip of rapper Bakhaw, which has just been shot. Joined by CheckNews, he indicates that he took part in the clip, filmed “in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday at Blanc-Mesnil in the city of lime trees” as an extra and tells us the identity of the policeman lying on the ground: it is the comedian Raphael Sergio.

Images “misused”

Contacted, the latter confirms that he participated in this filming: “I am an actor and these images are those filmed as part of a short film directed by actor and director Bryan Trésor. We filmed these images in a city of 93 [la Seine-Saint-Denis, ndlr] and many young people were present; they were filming with their phones. Unfortunately, the images circulated on the internet and were misused.

Present on the set, the artist Sergio Racim sent us these photos with the actor Raphael Sergio, who plays the role of the policeman and whose photos have been shared on social networks.

Images of Raphael Sergio as a police officer provided by actor Sergio Racim.

On Instagram, director Bryan Trésor as well as several extras dressed as police officers and members of the film crew also posted messages indicating the presence of rapper Bakhaw in fake police station or prison settings. Asked by CheckNews, another actress and a makeup artist repeat that it is special effects and a fake policeman.

In stories published on Wednesday, the makeup artist is surprised: “Our work is on Twitter in TT [tendances, ndlr]”. The people around her also seem surprised to discover that the images they have just filmed are diverted on social networks in the context of the clashes. In another post, she told her subscribers that “it was a shoot”.

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