How QAnon, far right conspiracy theory made its way to Europe?

Team Udayavani, Oct 12, 2020, 12:26 PM IST

Recently, thousands of protesters gathered at London’s Trafalgar Square to express their anger at the British government’s measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and among them were the supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

QAnon

According to The Week, On 28 October 2017, someone calling themselves Q began posting a series of cryptic messages in the 4chan internet forum titled “Calm Before the Storm”

Q claimed to be a high-level government insider with Q clearance (a United States Department of Energy security clearance with access to classified information) who had been instructed to post intelligence leaks straight to 4chan

The theory states that Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a Satan-worshipping cabal of American elites consisting Democratic party figures, Hollywood stars and journalists engaged in child sex trafficking

The supporters also claim that   Covid-19 is a hoax and vaccines are being controlled by Jewish people. The group grew out of Pizzagate, the conspiracy theory chinned up in large part by Alex Jones, that falsely claimed Hillary Clinton was running a child sex trafficking ring out of a Washington, D.C. pizza parlor

They show up at Trump rallies in Q merchandise, shirts and hats. They have come up with some dangerous conspiracy theories which the police officials believe will cause riots.

According to the Slate, In Germany, the theory has caught on with the so-called Reichsburgers, a fringe extreme right movement that dates back to the 1980s and holds that the modern German state is an artificial construct created by foreign powers and that the 1937 borders of the German empire still exist.

Bloomberg report states that QAnon in Germany appeals to a hodgepodge of fringe groups, including anti-vaxxers and left-wing esoterics, but overall it skews sharply right. While 74% of Germans have a negative view of Trump, German followers of Q adore him.

QAnon has also dovetailed throughout Europe with other recent conspiracy theories involving the supposed dangers of 5G and Bill Gates.