Video footage allegedly taken at the border of Greece and Turkey appears to show Muslim migrants holding children over smoldering campfires to make their eyes tear up for Western media cameras.
A small child is dragged over to the smoldering fire, and held limply and violently shook over the smoke for a prolonged period of several seconds, while a woman flaps her arms and jumps around in a circle making agonized facial expressions.
The migrants then pass the now-crying children up to other migrants, who start running back up the hill towards the border with tears streaming down everyone’s faces.
The video has gone viral on social media, and has been shared by several different sources as tensions continue to flare on the Greek border due to the migrant crisis.
Twitter user Dziennik Narodowy posted the video with the caption “The baby needs to be smoked so that she can cry. Crying will look better on TV coverage from the Turkish-Greek border. An adult woman does not need to explain it.”
Dziecko trzeba okadzić dymem, żeby płakało. Płacz będzie lepiej wyglądać w telewizyjnej relacji z granicy turecko-greckiej. Dorosłej kobiecie tłumaczyć tego nie trzeba. pic.twitter.com/MdXFhL5KP3
— Dziennik Narodowy (@Dziennik_N) March 2, 2020
Some Twitter users, albeit not many, defended the footage as an example of migrants using the smoke to somehow eliminate tear gas from the eyes of children.
This assumption was quickly ridiculed, as smoke is an irritant that would actually greatly increase the negative effects of tears gas.
Another video shows a woman posing in agitated poses and wailing in the manner of a professional mourner as western photographers circle her and take dozens of pictures.
Look at the camera men pic.twitter.com/6VugxCbbej
— Asian Defence (@AsianDef) March 2, 2020
Tensions related to migrants at the Greek border have caused a considerable stir, with sources inside the country describing the crisis as tantamount to a proxy invasion by Turkey.
