A Screenshot, Purportedly of an Opinion Piece in The Guardian Supporting Looting in France, Is Fabricated

By Peris Gachahi

​​Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, the supposed author of the article, has dismissed it as a fake.

This Facebook post with a screenshot, supposedly of The Guardian opinion supporting looting in France is FAKE.

The opinion is said to have been written by Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a lawyer, author, and activist, and had the headline, “I fully support the looting in France by the disenfranchised black youth. Call it reparations”.

The sub-heading stated: “It’s not looting when intergenerational trauma forces thousands to seek reparations for being sold into slavery.”

“The usual Guardian race biting rubbish,” the post quotes the lawyer-activist as denouncing the purported opinion.

There have been protests in France since 27 June 2023 after the fatal shooting of a teenager in the country. There were reports of looting in different cities during the protests.

However, a Google search for the purported opinion write-up established that The Guardian did not publish such an article on 1 July 2023.

Mos-Shogbamimu also denied in a Facebook post authoring the article.

The lawyer-activist cautioned: “Be aware that there are many fake headlines & lies circulating about me every day by racists/racial gatekeepers to incite hate against me and to attempt to silence me.” Mos-Shogbamimu added: “It’s been going on for a long while now. This is an example of them creating a fake Guardian headline about the France riots.”

PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post with a screenshot of an opinion attributed to The Guardian supporting looting in France and finds it to be FAKE.

This fact check was published by Piga Firimbi with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.

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