Ahead of a procession in Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, videos were shared in Chinese-language social media posts that falsely claimed they showed protesters in Tiananmen Square opposed to the government "wasting taxpayers' money". The clips in fact show people securing spots to watch a flag-raising ceremony that is held in the square every morning.

The videos, showing people lying down in Tiananmen Square and a group rushing into the square, were shared on YouTube and TikTok on August 18 and July 20, 2025.

Superimposed traditional Chinese text on the YouTube video, which was viewed more than 460,000 times, says there are "a hundred million people on hunger strike at Tiananmen Square demanding the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party (CCP) step down".

It links the protests to the ruling party "wasting taxpayers' money on a military parade, rather than reunifying Taiwan".

Text on the TikTok clip, which has been viewed more than 1.4 million times, says "200,000 Beijing students stormed Tiananmen Square", also in protest about the military parade.

The "military parade" referred to in the posts will take place in Beijing on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II (archived link).

Officials say China will unveil a slate of new domestically produced military hardware to showcase its "powerful capability to prevail in modern war".

President Xi Jinping is expected to inspect troops at Tiananmen Square, with his Russian and...

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