When Truth Looks Like Misinformation: Nazi Salutes Witnessed at Bangladesh’s Gaza Protests
Image: Social Media
By: JP
Nationwide Gaza Protests Erupt Across Bangladesh
Thousands of student protesters swept through the streets across Bangladesh on April 7, 2025, as part of a global protest in support of Gaza.
The Chief Advisor of the interim Bangladeshi government, Muhammad Yunus, issued a statement appearing to support the protest. In his statement, Yunus condemned Israel’s “continued mass killing and gross violations of human rights in the Gaza Strip” on the same day as the demonstrations.
Citing security concerns over U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza, the U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh closed early.
Violence, Looting, and the Rise of Misinformation
Although the protest was mostly peaceful, videos capturing vandalism and looting spread widely across social media.
One video showed a mob attacking a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in Sylhet.
Image: 24.899264956016488, 91.8718805733396 (the KFC was under construction in Google Maps)
Another showed unrest at a Pizza Hut and KFC in Cox’s Bazar.
Coordinates: 21.426783823935352, 91.97849669880085
A third image from the Dhaka Tribune reported damage at a Bata showroom in Sylhet.
Coordinates: 24.901646118766692, 91.86954974037769
Social media posts blaming “Islamic extremists” or “Islamic terrorists” for the escalation circulated quickly, creating the perfect breeding ground for widespread misinformation.
Nazi Imagery Sparks Outrage and Debate
That same day, a photo showing protesters performing Nazi salutes, reportedly taken in Dhaka during the nationwide Gaza protest, began circulating online.
Image: Nazi symbols observed during pro-Gaza protests in Bangladesh
Several pro-Israel accounts amplified the image to their audiences (see here and here), bringing it to the forefront of a global audience.
Additionally, images captured a Shahada flag at the protests in Dhaka—the same phrase that appears on the Taliban flag. While the Shahada can be used on any background, the Taliban specifically uses it in black text on a white background. This may have contributed to the perception that Islamic extremists were involved in the protests.
Coordinates: 23.729508825519087, 90.41282153521102
While people already blamed Islamic extremists for the unrest, the Nazi imagery only fueled these claims and sparked debate over the photo’s origin and authenticity.
Questions Over Authenticity and Political Motives
Questions quickly surfaced regarding whether it was a real image, with some users even using online tools claiming the photo was fake.
Image: Screenshot of @XRphotos’ X post
IntelFocus could not independently confirm the original source of the image.
Additionally, several Bangladeshi political figures shared the image for their own political gain.
Mohammad Ali Arafat, a former Dhaka politician, claimed the image was tied to Islamist groups backing Muhammad Yunus, the head of the interim government. Sajeeb Wazed, son of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also shared it alongside other photos reportedly taken the same day, blaming the unrest on the "Yunus dictatorship."
Both political figures were affiliated with the banned Awami League political party and were outspoken critics of the Yunus-led interim government. Their role in spreading the image raised concerns about whether the photo was manipulated to serve political aims.
IntelFocus found that the only Bangladeshi reports mentioning Nazi salutes at the protests came from Bddigest.com, a site reportedly funded by the Global Justice Network Foundation, a group previously accused of spreading misinformation. At the time of publication, the site hosted only two articles and lacked transparency about its authors or funding. Some critics claimed ties between the group and Wazed, though IntelFocus could not confirm this.
What the Evidence Shows
Although politicians used the photo to advance their own agendas, and many doubted its authenticity due to the widespread distrust of AI and overreliance on AI detection tools, IntelFocus was able to confirm the authenticity of the photo.
Though the photo was real, a climate of misinformation fueled by political agendas, fears about AI, and growing reliance on detection tools led to widespread doubt about its authenticity. When truth resembles misinformation, the line between real and fake blurs, putting reality itself up for debate.
The earliest version found was posted April 7 on Reddit and was geolocated to Dhaka (see below).
The billboard in the original photo also advertised a phone released this year, corroborating that the photo was taken this year.
Coordinates: 23.864362705746178, 90.39976849184968
A second image included in the same post showed a Nazi flag at a protest elsewhere in the city.
Image: 23.732615607276482, 90.39561379106227 (a geotagged photo on Google Maps, taken in December 2024, shows red paint smears that match the original image)
A Dhaka-based photojournalist captured another image at a separate protest on April 12, showing a poster expressing sympathy for Hitler. Local reports stated a Gaza march took place in Dhaka the same day it was posted.
Coordinates: 23.732938, 90.397385
These additional images suggested that Nazi imagery and Hitler sympathizers were present at the protests; however, limited photo and video evidence indicate they represented a minority of participants.
Overall, Intel Focus determined the photo was highly likely to be authentic. The text is legible, the protester’s hand casts a natural shadow across the swastika, the symbol’s color shifts realistically in both sunlight and shade, and the flag in the background shows similar lighting consistency.
IntelFocus uploaded the photo to FakeImageDetector, a tool some X users cited to support claims that the image was fake. The site claimed to use Metadata Analysis and Error Level Analysis (ELA) to assess authenticity.
Image: Original photo uploaded to http://FakeImageDetector.com
Image: Error Level Analysis from http://FakeImageDetector.com
However, in cases like this, where a photo was scraped from social media, stripped of metadata, and repeatedly re-uploaded, metadata is unavailable, and ELA alone is unreliable. As FotoForensics noted, ELA results should be “validated with other analysis techniques and algorithms” before drawing conclusions.
Lastly, political figures pushed the idea that Islamist extremists played a role in the protests, but IntelFocus did not find any credible sources validating these claims. News reports, citing officials, mentioned arrests linked to rioting, but made no mention of terrorism or extremism.
