Islamists Burned Down Church After New Zealand Attacks: Fact Check

Story:

Watch how Islamists Burned Down Church in Pakistan After New Zealand Mosque Attacks

Other Versions

1. In response to the New Zealand mosque attacks, Islamists have burned down a Christian church in Pakistan.

2. In response to the appalling New Zealand mosque attacks, Islamists had previously burned down a Christian church in Pakistan.

Why didn’t BBC World or the MSM show this when it happened?

Fact Check:

A disturbing video is circulating on social media claiming to show that in response to the appalling New Zealand mosque attacks, Islamists Burned Down Church in Pakistan. It shows a Church with fire and smoke around and a man toppling down a Cross atop the steeple. Allegedly, the Islamists have burned down the Christian Church in Pakistan in retaliation to the mass shooting at couple of mosques in New Zealand. The messages also claim mainstream media did not report the incident. Although the video is real, the claims associated to it are not true.

About Christchurch Mosque Shootings in New Zealand

On 15th March 2019, two consecutive terrorist mass shooting took place at Muslim mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers. The mass shooting began at Al Noor Mosque in the afternoon and continued at the Linwood Islamic Centre. As of this writing, the attacks killed 50 people, injured 50 more and shocked New Zealand and people worldwide. It is the deadliest mass shooting in the history of modern New Zealand. 28-year-old Australian man Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a white supremacist and part of the “alt-right”, was arrested and charged with the murders.

Image of Members of the public laying flowers at memorial for victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings — Members of the public laying flowers at memorial for victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings

Islamists Burned Down Church in Retaliation?

On 18th March 2019, London’s conservative commentator Theodora Dickinson shared the short video on Twitter with the claim in question. It soon garnered thousands of likes and retweets. Although Theodora Dickinson deleted the post later, copies of it appeared elsewhere. The same day, similar claim also appeared on a Facebook page called Namo Bharath – Narendra Modi For PM – as information – to be verified.

Screenshot of archived Twitter post of Theodora Dickinson

Old Video from Egypt

Yes, what you see in the video is not an aftermath of Mosque Shootings in New Zealand. It does not even show Islamists Burned Down Church in Pakistan. Back in mid August 2013, a Muslim mob stormed a Coptic Church in Southern Egyptian City of Sohag. They set cars on fire and then toppled down a cross atop the steeple. The short clip in question is in fact taken from a larger footage of the incident shared by MidEast Christian News (shown below).

Image of a Muslim mob storming a Coptic Church in Sohag, Egypt — Muslim mob storming a Coptic Church in Sohag, Egypt

So, the claim that Islamists Burned Down Church in Pakistan in retaliation to New Zealand mosque shootings is a hoax. The video is an old one from Egypt, which shows a Muslim mob vandalizing a Church.