250K views for a terrifying video from Nukus, #Karakalpakstan.
A street "covered in the blood of protesters" or "red paint"?
Investigation by @Lotte_Lambrecht and me. 🧵👇1/...
#OSINT 🔎
#Verification 🎥
#GeoLocation 🌍
#HowToOSINT 🧐
@Lotte_Lambrecht Some context first.
Karakalpakstan is a semi-autonomous region in Uzbekistan, Central Asia.
Authorities in Uzbekistan have said that 18 people were killed during last week’s unrest after plans to strip Karakalpakstan of its autonomy. 2/...
eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-at-…
@Lotte_Lambrecht Thousands took to the streets in the biggest protest in Uzbekistan in recent years. President Mirzijoev declared a state of emergency.
Blood was certainly shed in Karakalpakstans capital, Nukus.
Official figuers confirm, we've seen a lot of gruesome videos of victims. 3/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht Uzbek media say it is not blood we see in the viral video, but coloured water, which was used to mark demonstrators.
That is also what Uzbek MP Bobur Bekmurodov claims in a tweet. 👇 4/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht To prove this 👆, they use a photo from #Belarus, taken in October 2020, of a water cannon spraying demonstrators with an orange liquid. 5/...
Source: people.onliner.by/2020/10/04/fot…
@Lotte_Lambrecht The viral video is recent and was shot on a central boulevard in #Nukus.
We know this by comparing visual elements in the video (left) with Yandex's Streetview (right). #Geolocation ✅
We found no indications of image manipulation. 6/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht To contextualise this video, we researched and verified eleven videos of the protest, all made on 1 or 2 July. 🔎
You can find them here on an interactive map: 🗺️📍
maphub.net/brechtcastel/p… 7/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht In a chaotic video shot 150 metres from the viral video, we see a vehicle used by the Uzbek riot police.
We read 'Jino' on a logo and also 'JIN . motors' 🟥. 8/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht We google these words.
This leads us to a South Korean 🇰🇷 company, Jino Motors, which produces water cannons. 9/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht The Titan water cannon is one of the vehicles they produce.
Visual elements from Nukus' video 🟨🟦🟥 match a photo on a website selling the vehicle.
So we know that it is indeed a Titan that was used during the protests in #Karakalpakstan. 10/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht We read that the vehicle is suitable as a water cannon, but can also fire foam, tear gas and paint 🟥.
It is therefore theoretically possible that a coloured liquid was sprayed on the demonstrators. 11/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht In the viral video, the camera briefly swings left and right.
Thus we can clearly see that there are also dry spots on that street.
➡️It is plausible that the wet spot was caused by a water cannon. 12/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht Moreover, the water cannon was visibly deployed nearby (left).
We also find other videos in which we see water cannons spraying 🟦.
However, here we do not see red dye mixed with water. 13/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht In another video on Instagram, we see a group of men throwing stones at the riot police.
In this video we also see red puddles on the street.
This video (right) appears to be shot across the street from the viral video (left) and shows the exact same spot: 🟦🟥🟨. 14/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht In the Instagram video, we see no bleeding people or wounded bodies lying on the street that could explain the red colour. ❌
The puddles are there, but there is nothing to suggest that a massacre just took place : people are relatively calm, except for some stone-throwers. 15/
@Lotte_Lambrecht From second 5, the Instagram video shows a coloured mist in the background 🟧, from which people are running away.
The haze has a reddish-orange glow, which could indicate coloured water. 16/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht When the haze lifts, we can see that there is a water cannon on the left side of the street.
It is therefore quite possible that the orange haze is coming from that cannon. 17/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht This spot is not the only one where we see red puddles in Nukus.
In a video shot 1 km away, we also see large pools of red liquid on the street (left).
A few metres further on (right), we see someone with a head wound. 18/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht However, the blood loss 👆 does not seem to be in proportion to the large red puddles.
Here too, water cannons were active. 19/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht CONCLUSION: Based on the images examined and currently available, it is possible that red fluid was used by Uzbek riot police.
Visual evidence of large amounts of blood in the places where we see red pools was not found. 20/...
@Lotte_Lambrecht MORE IMPORTANTLY: We do #OSINT far from Nukus. Journalists should be able to work in this region.
Local journalists have been detained. Internet was cut off in Nukus for some time.
This doesn't help the truth getting out. ⚠️
@Lotte_Lambrecht What have we learned? 👩🏫
1) #OSINT depends on the sources you find. Without the Instagram video, this would have been harder. 📱
2) Putting footage on a map is important to understand what happened. 🗺️
3) #OSINT only gives one part of the puzzle. Local journalism is needed! 📰
@Lotte_Lambrecht You can read our full article with all sources used here (@Knack) for FREE. 👇23/...
knack.be/factcheck/fact…
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Every footage we could geolocate is on this map (free to use for everyone).
For people interested I continue this thread with all #geolocations so far. 👇👇👇
You want to help? Find other footage from Nukus, geolocate and tag me. I'll add to the MAP.
maphub.net/brechtcastel/p…
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 1: red liquid 1
42.46628, 59.60389
Source:
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 2: crowd
42.462159, 59.605203
Source: t.me/anthabar/2328
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 3: crowd at sunset
42.462021, 59.605221
Source:
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 4: water cannon
42.465509, 59.604138
t.me/basekz/5238
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 5: water cannon in crowd
42.46238, 59.60509
Source: t.me/anthabar/2336?…
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 6: riot police
42.474373, 59.60078
Source: t.me/basekz/5256
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 7: mass runs away
42.476056, 59.601044
Source: t.me/basekz/5242
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 8: red liquid 2
42.475064, 59.601066
Source:
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 9: fire
42.475455, 59.601363
Source: instagram.com/p/CfhBEExlEIS/
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 10: riots
42.466453, 59.603860
Source: instagram.com/p/Cfi3QDmgm7C/
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack Video 11: victim (graphic)
42.475195, 59.601203
Source: t.me/basekz/5229
@Lotte_Lambrecht @Knack IMPORTANT UPDATE: @joannalillis, who is working as a journalist in Nukus, just got back to me:
"Nukus city police chief told me it was dye, and a witness in the bazaar, who took part in the protest, said the same." Our #OSINT investigation got confirmed.✅
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