Jibi MosesNovember 2, 2025
The videos and images making the rounds on social media that the Tanzanian rioters have attacked Julius Nyerere International Airport are false.
Gistlover, a Facebook page describing itself as a media/news company based in Lagos (Nigeria) with a following of over a million, posted the pictures (archived) and in less than 24 hours attracted over 9,000 reactions, over 3,000 comments and 700 shares.
Some other online sources that have shared the image and the video in the last few hours are seen here: Turkana News Online, Koech K Bett, Poka Kenyewa Watchdogs, Frank Neva, Vox Nation and Joel Cooel, among others so far.
Debunking the Claim:
The virality of the claim prompted this publication to investigate and verify this claim.
A Google Reverse Search of one of the images returns results with some videos and pictures recently posted from various locations.
However, there is a video on Instagram, posted 240 weeks ago, showing the same instances, showing the same crowd at Julius Nyerere International Airport, running to welcome the body of the late president, Pombe Magafuli, who died at the peak of Covid-19.
This discovery propelled the team to search the internet further for whether Tanzanians stormed the airport during Magafuli’s death, and the keyword search brought the following results with the question, “Did Tanzanians storm Julius Nyerere Airport to see his body?”
Uzaleando News, a YouTube outlet, posted the video four years ago, showing how Tanzanians stormed the airport as their former president’s body was being loaded on the plane.
Other sources that posted the video in 2021 are seen here, here, here, and here.
The Tanzanians went for presidential elections on the 29th of October; however, riots started on the election day with The Guardian, Al Jazeera, BBC, Reuters, and media houses reporting that they were still ongoing till now. The government of Tanzania decided to shut down the internet (Larry Madowo and Netblocks), impose a curfew and order public servants to work from home.
These situations, in most cases, especially internet shutdowns, are fertile ground for misinformation because people will have no option of getting verified information from reliable sources, and it leaves democracy at stake.
A 3D Google Maps view of Julius International Airport currently shows nothing wrong at the airport, with a normal situation.
Our Verdict:
The ClarityDesk finds the images and videos going viral, claiming that Tanzanians stormed the Julius Nyerere International Airport to be false; these images have been on the internet since 2021, and they were taken during the funeral of the late Tanzanian president, John Pombe Magafuli, when his body was being loaded on the plane to Dodoma for public viewing. This does not dispute the fact that there were riots in some parts of Tanzania pre- and post-elections, as reported by media outlets.
Have you spotted an error in this article and would like to request a correction, or have you come across a claim that we should investigate? Please send us an email via editor@claritydesk.org or click here to WhatsApp us via +211 928 606 958.
The ClarityDesk
