A photo of racist graffiti linked to the 2013 looting of a halal food store in Ireland has resurfaced in an online post falsely claiming to show an anti-Pakistan message in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, in May 2024. The photo was shared thousands of times and re-circulated after a fight broke out in Bishkek between local and international students, including Pakistanis.
“No one likes Pakistanis. This is written all over the hostels and apartments in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,” the post read. Social Media Platform XoMay 18, 2024.
of post He shared a photo of a white wall with graffiti reading “Pakistanis get out.”
The incident came to light at X after a brawl broke out on the night of May 17, 2024, involving hundreds of students from different countries, including India and Bangladesh, leaving four Pakistani students injured.
Pakistan’s foreign minister announced on May 19, 2024 that more than 650 Pakistani students had been repatriated from Kyrgyzstan after clashes broke out between locals and foreigners near a student dormitory in Bishkek.
In an online statement, Kyrgyzstan’s interior ministry said the “disturbance” followed an incident earlier this week when international students reported being harassed by “unidentified individuals” in their dormitories.
According to local media, there are more than 11,000 Pakistanis studying across Kyrgyzstan and the program is particularly popular among medical students.
The same photo can be seen here, here, and here. here It listed a series of similar false claims about X.
Some users pointed out that the photo was not from Bishkek, but others seemed to believe the claim.
“They should leave their undisciplined third-rate behaviour in Pakistan…” one X user wrote.
“They must have thought they could impose their Punjabi attitude on the Kyrgyz,” wrote another.
However, the photo has been circulating online since 2013 and is unrelated to the incident in Bishkek.
Dublin stores looted
A comment on this post referred to a blog post from November 13, 2013 about a racist attack on a halal food shop in Dublin, Ireland, which included an embedded photo of the same graffiti (archive link).
The blog cites a news article by Irish media organisation TheJournal.ie about a robbery that took place at a halal food shop on Cookstown Industrial Estate in south Dublin in early November 2013 (archive link).
News reports said Al Mina food store was run by a young man “of Algerian origin.”
The paper published photos of graffiti reading “Pakistanis get out” and “Niggers get out” and credited a Dublin-based Facebook account.
A search of the account by AFP revealed a post dated November 8, 2013, which contained the same photo of the graffiti, as well as images of vandalism at a store (archive link).
Below are screenshots comparing a photo from the fake post (left) to a photo from a Facebook post from 2013 (right).
“Last Saturday vandals, possibly racist, vandalised Al Mina Store, a halal food shop, on the Cookstown Indian Estate in Tallaght,” the post read in part.
