Climate strikes: hoax photo accusing Australian protesters of leaving rubbish behind goes viral

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/21/climate-strikes-hoax-photo-accusing-australian-protesters-of-leaving-rubbish-behind-goes-viral

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A hoax photo that claims to show rubbish left behind by Australian climate strike protesters is circulating on Facebook, despite being revealed as fake months ago.

Though it lacks any verification, and was debunked in April, the image and false caption have been shared 19,000 times in 12 hours, and thousands of times from copycats.

On Friday, an estimated 300,000 Australians, and millions of people around the world, took part in protests against inaction on the climate emergency.

Hours later, an Australian pro-coal page reposted the photo, which originated in April. It was captioned: “Look at the mess today’s climate protesters left behind in beautiful Hyde Park.”

However, the photo is not from a climate strike, not from Friday and was not taken in Australia. It is from a marijuana-based festival called 420 held in London in April 2019.

In Sydney, there was no climate strike held in Hyde Park on Friday. Nor was there in London, where the event was held outside the Houses of Parliament.

Viral misinformation doing rounds. This pic is from an event in Hyde Park, London in April unrelated to climate protests. https://t.co/Ro1fcFLcyS pic.twitter.com/G5aaKLiDzd

London’s Royal Parks authority had already addressed the hoax back in April.

There's a lot of incorrect information doing the Twitter rounds this morning. This photo is the result of an unofficial event in Hyde Park on Saturday, not the #ExtinctionRebellion protestors in Marble Arch.It costs us millions to clear #litter every year. Please take it home. pic.twitter.com/F1JtAqmnVO

According to the fact-checking site Snopes, the London marijuana event was held next to an Extinction Rebellion protest. The photo does show London’s Hyde Park but the rubbish was created by the 420 attendees, not climate protesters.

According to organisers, Extinction Rebellion protesters helped clean up the mess made at the 420 event.

Snopes says the confusion began due to ambiguous wording from a Facebook page THTC (The Hemp Trading Company) that was trying to shame 420 attendees to clean up.

“This is #HydePark after #420,” it said. “Ashamed is not the word. With #extinctionrebellion not yards away, so many of you couldn’t be bothered to clean up after yourselves…#cannabiscommunity you can do better – you need to do better.

After the misinformation began to spread, the THTC page clarified later, posting: “IMPORTANT EDIT: a lot of people are misreading this post. This was the aftermath of Hyde Park 420 – and was *cleaned up* by Extinction Rebellion crew.”

This is from a totally separate event that took place in Hyde park. #ExtinctionRebellion activists went to help tidy up anyway because it grossed us out as much as it does you.

In the UK on Friday, more than 300,000 people attended more than 200 events, making it the biggest environmental protest the UK had seen.

An estimated 300,000 people also turned out in Australia, with at least 100,000 in Melbourne and 80,000 in The Domain in Sydney – not Hyde Park.