Video Claiming to Show Public Panic Over Fuel Shortage In Sri Lanka Is Old & Unrelated

As the US and Israeli forces continue to conduct military strikes in Iran, Sri Lankan citizens have been in panic about possible fuel shortages despite assurances from the government. In this context, a video is being widely shared on TikTok claiming to show people in Colombo expressing panic over a purported fuel shortage, and blaming the government for mismanagement. 

The video shows a woman calling on the government to alleviate people’s suffering and that no one should be queuing up for hours. The text superimposed on the TikTok video says, “Colombo runs hot! People curse the Government and ask them to observe how people are suffering.” The caption in Sinhala reads, “Those who voted for Maalimawa themselves are now on the streets protesting!”

Since there is no official confirmation regarding fuel shortage in Sri Lanka, Newschecker decided to check the veracity of the claim, and upon investigation, found the claim to be false.  

Evidence

1. On a close analysis of the video, we noticed the logo of the media outlet ‘APÉ MEDIA’, following which we looked up their social media pages to see if they had posted the video recently. During our search, we found that the video was originally posted on their YouTube channel on January 22, 2026.

This made it apparent that the video was from over a month ago. 

2. Upon further inspecting the video we noticed that it had been filmed in front of the National Eye Hospital in Colombo.

While the site is popular among protesters, we noticed that there were no recent reports on fuel queues nor protests in the area of the hospital. 

3. We then looked into any other recent protests that have taken place in the area of the National Eye Hospital and noticed that on January 22, 2026, patients gathered near the hospital and spoke out against the government because of a 48-hour strike launched by the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA). Doctors had not reported to duty due to the Health Ministry’s failure to implement the solutions to resolve issues faced by medical officers and to safeguard the free healthcare service of the country. Reports of the strike can be seen here and here. 

Public panic at hospitals during the strike could be seen clearly in footage from the time:

As a result, we were able to confirm that the video in the TikTok is unrelated to the current public panic and is an old one from January of this year when people were upset due to the GMOA strike affecting their lives. 

Context

The current strikes on Iran by the United States have slowed down the flow of people, goods, and crude oil stocks among others. Sri Lankans are still recovering from the fuel queues of 2022 caused by economic instability in the country. In this context citizens are queuing at fuel stations despite assurances from government and crude oil companies, fearing fuel shortage. Government officials, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and other fuel suppliers have stated that Sri Lanka has diversified its sources for refined products like petrol and diesel, increasingly relying on India and Singapore, and not the Middle East unlike previously. They have also stated that the country has enough fuel to last over a month. 

Verdict

The viral TikTok post claiming to show a citizens’ protest over fuel shortage in Sri Lanka is false. The video was originally posted on January 22, 2026 during a 48-hour strike launched by the Government Medical Officers Association when doctors did not report to duty.

FAQs 

Q1. What does the video show? 
A group of citizens expressing their anger at the Government while waiting in line near the National Eye Hospital

Q2. When was the video actually posted?
January 22, 2026

Q3. Is this video related to panic buying at fuel stations in relation to the tense situation in the Middle East?
No. 

Our Sources

‘​කොළඹ උණුසුම් වෙයි – ආණ්ඩුවට දෙහි කපයි! – මිනිස්සු විඳින දුක බලන්න – Ape Media’, posted on the APE Media YouTube channel, January 22, 2026
‘GMOA to launch island-wide token strike tomorrow’, published on AdaDerana, January 22, 2026
‘GMOA To Go On Strike For Two Days’, published on NewsFirstLK, January 22, 2026