A photo taken in France in 2010 was shared during recent peasant protests in Italy.

Screenshot of the claim circulating online (Source: Modified by X/Facebook/Logically Facts)

What is a claim?

Social media posts of images of tractors (archived here, here, and here) are going viral, claiming to show scenes from recent farmers’ protests in Verona, Italy..

The claims surfaced amid widespread protests by farmers in many parts of Europe, including Germany, France, Greece and Poland. Farmers, especially in Italy, have been protesting against the importation of cheap produce from outside the EU, price hikes and red tape, Reuters reported.

However, this image was taken in France in 2010.

A screenshot of the claim circulating online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by logical facts)

How did we verify this?

A reverse image search found multiple news reports dating back to 2010.

One such report, published by French news site Franceinfo, used the photo in a 2019 article. The caption below the image reads: “Farmers’ demonstration in response to the call of the FNSEA in Paris on April 27, 2010 to protest against European agricultural policy (roughly translated from French)”. The image was credited to AFP photographer Fred Dufour.

We found the image used in an article on the Agence France-Presse (AFP) website, and the image description states that the photo was taken during a French farmers’ protest on April 27, 2010. has been done. The protest was called by 14 regional farmers’ unions and supported by the National Farmers’ Union (FNSEA). The protests were held to oppose wage cuts and denounce European agricultural policy.

France24 reported that protests in 2010 saw more than 5,000 grain farmers take to the streets to protest declining profits and unregulated EU markets.