What was claimed
A picture shows the aftermath of climate strikers in Hyde Park in London on 20 September.
Our verdict
The picture shows litter left following an event in Hyde Park in April 2019 promoting the legalisation of cannabis use.
This old photo of rubbish in Hyde Park isn’t from a climate protest
23 September 2019
A number of posts on Facebook have claimed that a photo of rubbish strewn across a park shows the aftermath of the climate strike protests, which took place on Friday 20 September. Multiple versions say the image is of Hyde Park in London after the protest, while one post also included a picture of climate protests in Australia. The picture has been shared at least 13,000 times in recent days.
The picture does not show the aftermath of any climate protest. It was actually taken after a “4/20” event promoting the legalisation of cannabis in Hyde Park in April 2019.
The mess in the same picture was also falsely attributed to Extinction Rebellion climate change protestors back in April, which we debunked at the time.
Royal Parks, which manages London’s royal parks, said in April that the photo was “the result of an unofficial event in Hyde Park on Saturday [20 April], not the #ExtinctionRebellion protestors in Marble Arch.”
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false as the picture is not from the aftermath of the climate strike protest.