'Extremely alarming': Frustrations mount in Sask. village as residents protest 'QAnon queen'
Residents of a small village in southwestern Saskatchewan took to their trucks on Sunday to protest their town’s newest resident — a woman who claims to have legal standing as ‘queen’ of Canada.
Romana Didulo, the leader of a fringe conspiracy group who was forced out of Kamsack, Sask. on Sept. 13, has been camped out on a resident’s property in the village of Richmound since last week — at the community’s shuttered school.
The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League describes Didulo as a "Canadian QAnon figure" who has called for "violent action" against those who help administer COVID-19 vaccines to kids.
When Didulo arrived in Kamsack, about 200 individuals from the town and nearby First Nations confronted the group and escorted them out of town.
Now, secure on private property in Richmound, some residents fear it might not be so easy to push her and her followers out.
“Obviously the rest of the town does not want her here,” said one resident who asked to remain anonymous.
She said about fifty residents staged a protest on Sunday, driving around Didulo’s compound and blaring their horns.
“I have reached out to our MLAs, the provincial government, the federal government … I have hit roadblock after roadblock after roadblock,” she said.
“We were just told they have to do something illegal before anyone can do anything.”
The shuttered school where Romana Didulo has set up camp in Richmound, Sask. (Courtesy: Concerned citizens of Richmound)
An officer working out of the Leader RCMP detachment told CTV News last week that police are aware Didulo is in the area and are monitoring the situation.
The Mountie said Didulo's group has not broken any laws.
The resident who spoke to CTV News said she was shocked to read about Didulo’s violent rhetoric, and the actions of her followers.
At a protest in Peterborough last year, two men were charged after Didulo directed her followers to place police officers under citizen’s arrest.
“It’s extremely, extremely alarming,” she said.
“I’m not necessarily scared of … the ones that are in the building. I’m scared of what she’s putting out to her followers and the followers that potentially could come here and do something.”
Richmound, Sask. is located north of Maple Creek near the Alberta border – about 445 kilometres west of Regina.
-With files from Wayne Mantyka, Drew Postey and Abby O’Brien.
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