No ‘Pig Squad’ in France: Viral Protest Video Is AI-Generated

A viral video claims to show French police deploying pigs against protesters in Paris. But the footage is AI-generated. Off Beat Concerns traced the video to an earlier post and found that social media accounts were using it to spread communal misinformation about the protests.

Nationwide protests are sweeping across France as students, Gen Z, labour unions, educators, and citizens flood the streets. Driven by rising living costs, understaffed and underfunded schools, and widespread opposition to the government’s multi-billion-euro public spending cuts, demonstrators are demanding immediate changes to the current socio-economic reforms. At the same time, a large amount of misinformation is being spread online regarding the protests, particularly by right-wing and Indian accounts sharing out-of-context and AI-generated video clips.

A video purporting to show French police using pigs wearing police harnesses to control the protesters’ demonstrations in Paris is widely circulating online.

OBC found that these viral posts are misleading.

The viral posts

On 24 October, the X account Er. Rajesh Singh (@Kumar1975Rajesh) shared a video of French police with the caption, ‘Amazing! French police preparing for the “protest” to be held in “Paris” tomorrow! I’ve heard of Dog Squad but seeing “Pig Squad” for the first time!’

As of 24 October, the post had garnered over 373k views, 26k likes and 7.9k reposts.

‘@Kumar1975Rajesh’ is an active Indian account on X. This account actively shares anti-CJP and anti-Muslim posts. Additionally, the user has posted misogynistic content on X featuring visuals from the CJP protests.

A reverse image search of the keyframes from the video revealed that numerous X accounts have shared similar videos. The captions posted alongside the video present the video as authentic. The account ‘@mishra_satish’ also posted this video on 23 October.

The post has attracted over 16k views and 1k likes on the platform.

The majority of comments on these posts are communal. “For people like pigs, a pig is just right. ,” one comment reads. Another user remarked, “The police have to prepare according to the criminal.” 

The real story

We analysed the viral post and conducted a deep-dive search. We found that numerous right-wing groups in India and other nations are promoting the narrative that Muslims are at the forefront of the French protests and claiming that immigrants are responsible for the unrest and violence. 

US President Donald Trump blamed the French protests on what he called “out-of-control mass migration” and alleged that Islam was seeking to take over France, urging Emmanuel Macron to close the country’s borders. At the same time, Macron dismissed such foreign commentary as “stupid” and manipulative foreign interference, attributing the violence to ultra-left groups and criminals rather than peaceful protesters. 

In this context, the objective of such posts becomes clearer. In Islam, consuming pork is considered ‘haram’ (forbidden), so any contact with them is perceived as undesirable.  allowed. The posts suggest that the protesters in France are Muslim, and because pigs are haram, the French police are using pigs to control them.

For further context, we conducted a detailed search of official records and found the official French national police page confirming that dogs are the only ‘four-legged agents’ officially used by the French police and gendarmerie. 

We examined the viral video closely and identified numerous discrepancies.  During protests, police are usually deployed in the direction facing the demonstrators. Upon closer inspection, the circulating video appears to show the police doing the exact opposite. The police are positioned at the very front of the protesters, facing the same direction as the protesters.

The video also claims to show protests in France. However, throughout the circulating video, the only visible flags are Palestinian flags; no French flag can be seen.

Additionally, we analysed the viral video and found it had a 99.8% probability of being AI-generated.

We also conducted a reverse image search using key frames from the video, which led us to the earliest post. It was an X post by an account called Radio Genoa.

Published on 23 October 2026, the post received over 546.4 views and 19k likes. Under the video, a label indicates it was created using AI.

Our analysis found that the posts claiming to show recent footage from the French protests are completely false. The viral posts do not depict real-world events or any actual police deployment, but are entirely AI-generated footage that originated from a European account. Many right-wing social media accounts and pages recycled and amplified this video, distorting the context to spread communal misinformation against protesters.