Photos, videos and rumours claim British army preparing for UK lockdown. Fact Check

ByCraig Haley

A variety of images, videos and rumours online claim to purport that the UK is on the verge of a “total lockdown”, where people will be forced to stay indoors, and that the lockdown will be enforced by the “army”.

Many variants of the claim state the lockdown will last for 15 days, while some claim it will last for 10 days. Most variants claim it will come into effect on “Friday”. Other claims state the army will be “guarding” supermarkets. And perhaps most noticeably, many photos and videos claim to show the British army preparing for the lockdown.

Of course we cannot state categorically what the next steps in the UK will be in regards to the coronavirus outbreak (the British PM does not typically include us in his decision making process) and of course it is not outside the realms of possibility that further restrictions or limitations may be put into effect since other countries in Europe – namely Italy – have enforced much more stringent measures to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. It is also not outside the realms of possibility that the British military will – at some point – play some sort of role in those measures.

However, certain types of alarmist misinformation are being irresponsibly amplified on social media. This includes out-of-context photos and videos with incorrect captions, as well as baseless and unverified information regarding potential “lockdowns” and what that would entail for UK citizens.

While we cannot outline the next steps likely taken by the UK as the coronavirus spreads, we can put to bed a fair number of rumours that have been skewed and amplified by social media, as well as put many of the unverified claims into a little more context.

First, the photos.

Military vehicles on UK motorway?

#ARMY on move for lockdown in #Britain .Welcome to #MartialLaw

The vehicles in this image do not show British military vehicles (the British military does not use such vehicles and they are on the wrong side of the road) and this image first surfaced online from a Ukrainian publication called Obozrevatel on March 16th, which the publication claims are military vehicles near Paris, France. It is true that France has mobilised its military to help transport sick people to hospital.

Military vehicles on UK motorway Part 2

This photo was also first published by Obozrevatel and again it is attributed to military movement near Paris.

Soldiers in Clapham Junction?

The army has landed lol UK be prepared to be on lockdown.

This image claims to show UK military in Clapham Junction as London is prepared for a lockdown. However it merely shows army cadets. There is an army cadet centre within 100 metres from where the photo is taken on St. John’s Hill.


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UK GOV webpage announcing lock down?

A fake screenshot is doing the rounds claiming to show the UK Government webpage. Eagled eyed readers will notice the spelling mistake in the word “suppress” and the odd use of a first-person singular pronoun. It’s fake and the real webpage doesn’t have any information about a lockdown. More information on that hoax here.

Tanks transported on the motorway?

Another viral video (above) apparently shows three tanks being transported along a UK motorway, with the person taking the video questioning why the tanks are being moved. While this video may very well have been filmed in the UK, it is not unusual for military vehicles to be transported across British motorways (the military, after all, have to transport their vehicles in some manner!) There are a variety of reasons unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak for this, such as the vehicles could have been transported to a different military base or may have been going to (or returning from) military exercises.

Finally, many alarmist claims on social media have begun to take hold, including the below –

U.K. to be locked down by police and army at some point during the next week, they are trying to push it through for Thursday!
This has come from two separate sources! One being a police officer and the other being a soldier in our own army that has said they have been briefed and it’s happening 1,000,000%!!!! Fined or put in prison if you leave your house! The New World Order and Martial Law is on its way in people, our lives are about to change forever!

As we have stated before, we do not know the next steps to be taken by the UK Government regarding the coronavirus outbreak, but these scaremongering rumours are simply based on no evidence whatsoever, and only serve to fuel a panicked and alarming narrative that is counter-productive and potentially dangerous.

Other countries, including Italy, has introduced “lockdown” measures to help curb the coronavirus. However even in Italy which has the most stringent of measures, context is still important. For example, residents in Italy are still allowed to leave their houses to go to work, for health reasons and to go food and supply shopping (so there’s still no reason to panic buy toilet roll.)

It is important that people don’t share alarmist “total lockdown” rumours on social media, especially unverified ones. And much of what we’re seeing (and will see going forward) in the UK is just that, including the plethora of photos and videos purporting (falsely) to show the British army “gearing up” for a lockdown.

As usual, the advice is to obtain and the information you see online responsibly. Don’t trust unverified social media posts, especially if they appear to place an emphasis on alarming you.