Posts falsely claimed footage showed protesters trying to block Xi Jinping’s motorcade during his September 2026 US visit. AFP traced the video to his April 2017 visit to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort; Xi did not visit Florida in 2026.
AFP’s reverse-image search found the footage in a Radio Free Asia video posted April 7, 2017. Street View matched the road to Lantana Road, about 10.4 kilometres from Mar-a-Lago, and a separate clip shows the two men running into the road from another angle.
Radio Free Asia reported that four people were arrested after the 2017 protest. Radio France Internationale said protesters including Ma Yongtian arrived in Florida on April 4 and vowed to block Xi’s motorcade; it reported that Ma had reportedly faced forced demolition and seizure of his home and property in China.
