Video of tear gas being fired on stage during national anthem at Tinkune protest deepfake: Police

Setopati

Kathmandu, April 2

FILE - This photo is taken from social media.

Police have said that a video showing tear gas being fired on stage while the national anthem was playing during the protest at Tinkune in Kathmandu on March 28 is a deepfake.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Deputy Inspector General Dinesh Acharya, central spokesperson for Nepal Police, said that the video in question is a deepfake.

"What has come to us today is the claim that the police used unnecessary force. The way it has been said that the police disrupted the event—actually, the police haven’t even started it. It is before they began the event," he said. "No national anthem is playing there. These are fake, deepfake videos. The event hasn’t even begun there, so how could the national anthem be playing?"

He also mentioned that before the incident, an individual had given a speech from the stage, urging the crowd to head toward Baneshwar.

However, he acknowledged that tear gas might have reached the stage.

He explained that the police fired tear gas after the person conducting the event directed the crowd to head toward Baneshwar, and that it could have reached the stage at that time.