WHAT WAS CLAIMED
A video shows immigrants setting fire to the Basilica of St Michael in Bordeaux, France.
OUR VERDICT
False. The video shows a tent on fire beside the church.
AAP FACTCHECK - A video showing smoke rising near a World Heritage-listed church in France is being misrepresented online as an arson attack by migrants.
Local media and city authorities confirmed the clip shows a homeless person's tent on fire, not the church itself, and the building was undamaged.
The claim appears in a Facebook post featuring an image of dark smoke rising from what appears to be a large church in a city square.
"Immigrants have set fire to The Gothic Basilica of Saint-Michael in Bordeaux which was built between the late 14th century and the 16th century (1330 to the 1500s)," the caption reads.
A similar post on X attracted more than 1.4 million views.
The church in the video is the historic Basilica of Saint Michael in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.
The Gothic church was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela, known as the Camino.
The blaze shown in the social media posts broke out on July 4, 2025, at the base of the church, according to the local news outlet Actu Bordeaux.
"For unknown reasons, the fire started in a homeless encampment against a wall of the building, but the blaze did not spread to the basilica grounds," Actu Bordeaux reported.
"No injuries were reported and municipal police officers quickly arrived on the scene with fire extinguishers to put out the flames."
A Facebook video posted by Actu Bordeaux appears to show the fire took place on a fenced lawn beside the church (timestamp five seconds).
A Bordeaux local government spokesperson confirmed that a homeless person's tent had caught fire rather than the basilica itself, according to Lead Stories.
"A tent belonging to a homeless person caught fire; the cause is unknown at this time, but the incident was unrelated to the nearby church," the spokesperson told Lead Stories.
"The fire had no impact on the Basilica of Saint Michel."
A Bordeaux Judicial Court prosecutor said there was no evidence the fire was criminal.
"The fire that occurred on July 4, 2026, near the Basilica of Saint Michael did not lead to an investigation due to the absence of any evidence suggesting a criminal offence," deputy prosecutor Guillaume Giraud told Lead Stories.
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