Was a man wearing “Muslim garb” spotted on Notre Dame balcony? Fact Check

Theories online claim that a mystery man caught on camera on a ledge in Notre Dame Cathedral as it caught fire proves that the incident was some sort of conspiracy.

Depending on which particular permutation of the conspiracy you see, it may claim that a man “with Muslim garb” was caught on camera on a balcony of the cathedral, or a “yellow vest” protester. Others directly claim it is an imam, while others vaguely assert that it shows a person responsible for intentionally starting the fire. Regardless of which version of this conspiracy you see, all of them use a grainy, unclear video (screenshot below) of a man walking along a balcony of the cathedral.

The video of the man is only a handful of seconds long, and cuts out after a few seconds after the man disappears behind a door.

While conspiracy theorists have concocted a number of fanciful explanations as to the man’s identity and his reason for being there, a little more research into the incident reveals – as is often the case – that the truth is somewhat more mundane and logical.

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Better footage of the man can be easily obtained from live footage of media outlets that were at the scene. For example, CNBC live streamed footage on YouTube, and also captured the man walking along the balcony. From their video we can determine more about the man, who is clearly a firefighter, since he is wearing a silver hat and a hi-vis jacket, a screenshot is below (taken at 40.07.)

The full stream also highlights another important fact, and that is that the man was present on the balcony long after the fire started and firefighters had attended the scene, and a number of firefighters appeared on the same balcony during the evening, some only moments after the grainy, seconds-long video cuts out. The below screenshot is from 43.10.

As such, there is little to believe any claim that this man is anything but a firefighter at the scene helping to tackle the blaze.

More conspiracies about Notre Dame can be seen here.