Viral video of US protests is from Oct 2025 anti-Trump rallies; unrelated to Venezuela situation

none@none.com (CEJ) — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:04:32 +0500

Claim

Viral video of mass protests across US cities against Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search and reviewed credible news reports to determine the original context of the viral video.

Multiple users on social media platforms X and Facebook shared a collage video on January 5, 2026, claiming it showed mass protests across the United States against President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela. However, the video shows anti-Trump protests in October 2025 and is unrelated to the Venezuela incident.

The US had launched a shock military operation in Venezuela on Jan 3, with special forces capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a nighttime raid.

Protests have been taken out in several US cities against the military action.

HOW IT STARTED

On Jan 5, an account on X shared a collage of protest videos with the following caption: “Breaking! From New York to Los Angeles, passing through Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis, and Kansas City: More than 100 major U.S. cities are rising up in massive protests against Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela!”

The post gained 719,300 views.

Another account reshared the same video on the same day, similarly claiming it showed protests across major US cities against Trump’s military intervention. The post garnered 118,400 views.

Other accounts on X also shared the same video with similar captions as can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here.

Several other accounts on Facebook also shared the same video with similar captions, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the fallout of the US actions in Venezuela.

A reverse image search yielded the same collage video shared on October 19, 2025, by the European Democratic Party, which explicitly described it as a video from the “No Kings” protests and characterised the demonstrations as one of the largest decentralised protest movements in US history.

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A keyword search yielded an October 20, 2025, news report by US media outlet CNN titled: “Millions rally against Trump at ‘No Kings’ protests across the US, organisers say. Here’s why protesters say they attended”.

As per the report, millions of people participated in more than 2,700 “No Kings” rallies across the US. It added that the demonstrations focused on domestic governance issues and opposition to perceived authoritarianism, not on US foreign policy or Venezuela.

Similarly, Pakistani media outlet Dawn reported on October 19, 2025, that massive “No Kings” protests took place across all 50 US states, with more than 2,700 demonstrations planned and millions expected to participate, making it one of the largest protest mobilisations in recent US history.

The report added that the rallies were organised by a coalition of grassroots groups to oppose what demonstrators described as President Trump’s authoritarian policies, including immigration crackdowns, attacks on the media, prosecution of political opponents and threats to democratic institutions. Protesters gathered in major cities such as New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston, chanting pro-democracy slogans.