A prominent QAnon figure from Victoria greeted some of her 60,000 online followers with cucumbers and sardines before an Aug. 13 event aiming to arrest Peterborough police officers, but ended with four protesters charged with assault.

Romana Didulo, who claims she含羞草研究社檚 the commander in chief and queen of the 含羞草研究社淜ingdom of Canada,含羞草研究社� promoted the 含羞草研究社渃itizens arrest含羞草研究社� event multiple times on her conspiracy-laden Telegram account.

Didulo has called for violence against anyone who allows for the vaccination of children and encouraged her 含羞草研究社渇orces含羞草研究社� to 含羞草研究社渟hoot to kill含羞草研究社� health-care workers. The rhetoric led to the RCMP searching her Victoria address last year. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network said Didulo has one of the largest followings among the country含羞草研究社檚 fringe figures.

In an Aug. 10 post viewed 12,500 times, she ordered her 含羞草研究社渇orces含羞草研究社� to the Ontario rally and said officers would be handed over to the military.

About 30 protesters gathered at the police station on Aug. 13 looking to arrest officers for COVID-related 含羞草研究社渃rimes against humanity.含羞草研究社� The protesters, according to police and video, accosted officers arriving for work and tried to access the station含羞草研究社檚 secure entrance. One video shows a man telling officers 含羞草研究社測ou guys are going to hang.含羞草研究社�

Peterborough police arrested three protesters on the weekend, with charges including assaulting a peace officer with a weapon and assaulting police. On Thursday, police charged another man for ripping a counterprotester含羞草研究社檚 sign and the department is investigating a woman videoed tearing off the counterprotester含羞草研究社檚 face mask.

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Ontario含羞草研究社檚 special investigations unit is looking into officer actions during one of the arrests, which followed an interaction with police, after a man was injured. Protesters swarmed police and were videoed trying to intervene during the arrest.

含羞草研究社淏e peaceful. But stand your ground 含羞草研究社�,含羞草研究社� Didulo posted on Telegram during the event.

Edwin Hodge, a University of Victoria expert in radicalization and extremist ideologies, is familiar with Didulo and said while her reach is clearly influential, it含羞草研究社檚 always the smallest minority that actually engages in real-world actions. She wouldn含羞草研究社檛 have any influence 20 years ago, but social media has changed that, Hodge said.

Didulo and her followers reflect a pattern of radicalization seen in the Jan. 6, anti-vaccine and Freedom Convoy movements, Hodge said, noting those sucked into conspiracy theories are usually looking for a sense of purpose or community.

含羞草研究社淚t remains sort of an unpleasant surprise to see just how many people respond to these sorts of calls to action.含羞草研究社�

Peterborough含羞草研究社檚 mayor was concise in her response to the protesters.

含羞草研究社淗ere is my comment: f含羞草研究社攌 off, you f含羞草研究社�-wads,含羞草研究社� Diane Therrien tweeted on Aug. 16.

The mayor defended the response on Thursday, telling CBC she含羞草研究社檇 do it again. Therrien said her community is tired and frustrated after a string of conspiracy theory-inspired events where participants have had the explicit intent to cause harm, disruption and pain.

含羞草研究社淵ou can含羞草研究社檛 reason with unreasonable people so they need to be told directly in terms they understand how people feel about them,含羞草研究社� she told CBC. 含羞草研究社淭hey含羞草研究社檙e just kind of showing up because they have nothing else better to do on a Saturday, they should go volunteer or help the community but they don含羞草研究社檛.含羞草研究社�

Conspiracy theorists will think anyone challenging their beliefs is part of the conspiracy, Hodge said.

含羞草研究社淭he idea is to ask them questions that direct them toward the holes in their logic so in their own minds they can start to see the problems.含羞草研究社�

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