A series of rumours and headlines are being shared on social media that claim “Black Lives Matter” protestors had intentionally blocked rescue efforts in Texas during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
Many of the rumours lead back to articles that contain the below image, along with headlines such as “Black Lives Matter Thugs Block Texas Rescue Efforts to Protest Trump… IMMEDIATELY REGRET IT” and “Disgusting Liberal Blocks Texas Rescue Efforts To Protest Trump – Gets BRUTALLY OWNED In Seconds”
Fake articles claim the photo shows BLM protesters blocking rescue workers
Despite these headlines and what the image appears to depict, the rumours appear to be false. We can find no reports where any group of protesters (either from Black Lives Matter or any other group) had blocked rescue efforts in Texas.
The image above that shows protesters lined up along a highway was actually taken in Boston in 2015, where protesters held up traffic along a highway for around 1 hour while chanting “black lives matter”.
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Various blogs – including ConservativePost.com and TheMrCBlog.com – were amongst those who published articles with the above headlines claiming protesters had blocked rescue workers. However their articles were actually describing the protests held when President Trump visited Texas in the days following the hurricane, and were not about obstructive protests by Black Lives Matter protesters.
This isn’t the first time this type of rumour has spread – the below image also went viral that claimed to show Black Lives Matter protesters blocking rescue efforts – but it was really taken in 2016 in Atlanta showing a protest against a spate of police shootings.
