FACT CHECK: Does This Image Show A 2022 Protest In Paris Against Pension Reform?

An image shared on Twitter allegedly shows a January 2022 protest in Paris over proposed pension cuts.

If the television media wasn’t owned by billionaires, you would have seen coverage of yesterday’s massive general strike in France against pension cuts. This is what Paris looked like. pic.twitter.com/B3lVLCkZVz

— Paul Emilio DelGatto – Old Yippie – SDS – Activist (@fah451bks) January 18, 2022

Verdict: Misleading

The image shows a protest in Paris against proposed pension cuts in January 2020, not 2022.

Fact Check:

Social media users are sharing an image that allegedly shows a large, Jan. 16 protest in Paris against pension cuts proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government. The image features thousands of people, some carrying banners and flags, marching down a street.

“If the television media wasn’t owned by billionaires, you would have seen coverage of yesterday’s massive general strike in France against pension cuts. This is what Paris looked like,” reads a Jan. 17 tweet that includes the image.

A reverse image search conducted by Check Your Fact found the image shared on Twitter predates 2022. It first appeared in a Jan. 9, 2020 article from Le Parisien. The photo, taken by photographers Yann Foreix and Olivier Corsan, captures demonstrators in Paris marching against pension reform proposals that year.

At the time, Macron’s government was attempting to reshape the country’s retirement system, in part by raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, according to The Washington Post. The proposed changes were later abandoned after large-scale protests, including the one pictured, in Paris and other French cities, The New York Times reported.

Check Your Fact found no evidence that any protests against pension reform occurred in Paris recently. There have been demonstrations against the country’s “vaccine pass” in recent weeks, according to France 24. (RELATED: Does This Video Show French Police Throwing Handcuffs On The Ground To Protest Coronavirus Restrictions?)

Check Your Fact previously debunked a viral video in August 2021 that purportedly showed a large protest against vaccine passports in France but actually showed a crowd in Iceland performing a popular soccer chant.

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