Does this video document Moscow residents rallying against Russian leader Vladimir Putin on April 23, 2023? No, that's not true: a false label was added to video of people publicly celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking the Fast, in Moscow.
The claim originated from a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTok on April 23, 2023, under the title "Rallies against the authorities and Putin were held in Moscow." It opened:
In Moscow there is a protest against Putin
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of this writing :
(Source: TikTok.com screengrab taken Wed Apr 30 9:22:46 2023 UTC)
The claim of anti-Putin protests spread on TikTok and appeared in other accounts, like this one:
(Source: TikTok.com screengrab taken Wed Apr 30 9:28:02 2023 UTC)
The caption reads:
"Are we captured or what?". The usual morning in Russia.
What was presented as an anti-government protest in these videos was an April 23, 2023 public celebration. About 300,000 Muslims in different districts of Moscow gathered together on the streets and near mosques to pray and celebrate one of their biggest holidays - Uraza Bayram.
The celebration in Russia began on April 21 and lasted for three days.
