WHAT WAS CLAIMED
A video shows a person smashing screens with a hammer at Sydney Airport.
OUR VERDICT
False. The video was filmed in Santiago, Chile.
AAP FACTCHECK - A video showing a person smashing monitors with a hammer is not a migrant at Sydney Airport, despite claims spreading online.
The footage shows an incident that occurred at an airport in Chile in 2024.
The claim is in a Facebook post that links to a TikTok video showing a man walking behind check-in desks and shouting as he uses a hammer to smash monitors and display screens.
"ALBASLEAZY and his IMPORTS last year," the caption reads.
The overlay text on the TikTok video reads "Sydney Australia airport" and "on this day 28 Feb 2025".
The same footage with the same overlay text has been shared in another post, which some users appear to believe depicts a recent migrant.
"Albo's open doors on Immigration from countries renound (sic) for violence and crime, are a huge success.." one person commented.
Another replied: "I didn't vote for this".
"Import third world … become third world - DEPORT IMMEDIATELY," another person wrote.
An X user sharing the clip claimed it showed a "random African" in Australia that authorities had identified as a New Zealand citizen.
However, the clip was actually filmed at Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago, Chile.
A reverse image search shows the clip was first posted on X in August 2024 by a user who said it showed a man who was arrested at the airport after attacking an American Airlines counter.
The incident was widely reported in local media, with Chilean newspaper La Nacion reporting that the man was denied entry to a flight to Miami because he did not have a US visa.
Chilean newspaper El Dinamo quoted Santiago West Prefecture patrol officer Lieutenant Manuel Narvaez, who said the man was a Haitian national.
"He claims he was scammed, and that's what sparked his outburst of anger and fury," a translation of his comments said.
The rampage was also reported by Australian outlets, including News.com.au.
Signs in the video are also in Spanish, including over an exit that points towards the "Nacional" or domestic terminal and "Buses a Estacionamientos" or buses to car parks (timestamp 40 seconds).
Other footage shared on X in 2024 shows the same man being handcuffed and led away by two officers in uniforms reading "Carabineros de Chile", a local law enforcement agency.
Claims that the video was filmed at airports in Europe have been debunked by Germany's Deutsche Welle and Ireland's TheJournal.ie.
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