A photo of a strewn street and a group of young people is shared on social media, and users claim the image is evidence of debris left behind by springbreakers in March 2021. Other reports claim that the photo was captured in France in 2020. allegations are untrue: this photo, previously incorrectly marked, depicts a street in Naples, Italy in September 2019, after a Fridays for future protests.
A recent post with the photo here, which has been shared more than 2,146 times since March 22, reads: ‘Spring away from the kids who want to save the planet. “According to some users, the image was taken in France in 2020.
This is not the first time this photo has been mislabeled on social media. Reuters earlier addressed reports falsely claiming it showed the aftermath of a May 2020 Green New Deal rally here. Other users have found the image in Bern, Switzerland (here) and Milan and Rome, Italy (here).
The photo depicts a crowd of young people in Naples, Italy on September 27, 2019 after a Fridays for future protests, which are part of student activist Greta Thunberg’s school strike movement to fight climate change around the world (here).
Local media reports show that the photo was taken in Via Toledo, one of Naples’ main streets (here). Google Street View visible www.bit.ly/2WfyC5D also confirms this exact location. Pictured is a tobacco shop (marked with a “T” sign), a Kiko cosmetics shop, a pizzeria and a shoe store, which are also visible on Google Street View.
The photo was originally posted (here) on Facebook by a user, Paolo Carotenuto, who added the hashtag #FridaysForFuture. He also posted metadata showing that it was taken on September 27, 2019 (here).
More than one million people protested in Italy that day as part of the Global Climate Strike, including 80,000 people in Naples (here).
VERDICT
Failure. This photo does not show litter left by ‘spring breakers’ in March 2021. It was captured in Naples in September 2019 after a Friday for the future protest.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.