A video shows the aftermath of two people being stabbed by Muslims during a protest in Stoke over the weekend of 3 August.
This is false. Staffordshire Police say the video shows a man being treated for a head injury. The police said two men involved in the incident were hit with a blunt object that was thrown in the air and that no stabbings had been reported.
Claims that two protesters were “stabbed by Muslims in Stoke” over the weekend have been widely circulating on social media. But Staffordshire Police has confirmed “this information is false and no stabbings have been reported to police, despite videos fuelling speculation on social media”.
A video being shared alongside the claim shows a large police presence and people shouting. The police appear to be standing around someone on the ground as an officer attends to them.
A voice says “a gang of Muslims have just come up and done, I don’t know what the f*** they’ve done to this lad, but he’s bleeding out all over the place. They’ve stabbed him. I hope they haven’t killed him. I hope they haven’t killed him. This is a f***ing joke. Oh there’s another guy. I don’t wanna get him on camera. He’s pissing with blood. The other guy is in a bad bad way.”
The video is usually shared with the caption: “Multiple reports that 2 #EnoughisEnough protesters have been stabbed by Muslims in Stoke.
“Reports of axes and hammers used to attack the public.”
#EnoughisEnough has often been used as a hashtag in promotion of the protests over the weekend, which saw more than 150 people arrested across the UK after some turned violent. Rioters smashed their way into a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers, and elsewhere shops were looted and police officers were injured in violent unrest in the aftermath of the murder of three girls aged six, seven and nine, in a knife attack at a dance class in Southport on 29 July.
In another press release about the disorder later on Saturday 3 August, Staffordshire Police said: “We’re continuing to dispel false claims that two men were stabbed during the protest following a number of videos that have been shared on social media sites.
“The video, which shows a man being treated for a head injury, fuelled the speculation.
“We would like to reiterate that two men involved in the incident were hit with a blunt object that was thrown in the air. No stabbings have been reported to police.
“Their injuries are not believed to be serious and they have been taken to hospital for treatment.”
Staffordshire Police confirmed to Full Fact that the video they refer to in the statement is the same as the video we’ve linked to above.
During breaking news events it’s essential to consider whether what you see online is accurate, so you can avoid sharing misleading information.
We have written a number of relevant guides that should help you to spot misleading images and videos, and created a toolkit to help identify other types of misinformation.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Staffordshire Police have confirmed no stabbings were reported.
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