CNN —A Chinese marketing firm likely organized and promoted protests in Washington last year as part of a wide-ranging pro-Beijing influence campaign, according to new research. One of the protests only attracted roughly a dozen people but it showed the scope and ambition of the pro-China efforts. The hired protesters, who included self-proclaimed musicians and actors in the Washington, DC, area, apparently had no idea they were being enlisted in a pro-China influence campaign, the Mandiant researchers said. Haixun, the Chinese firm, distributed videos of the protesters online to further the influence campaign, according to Mandiant. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said he was unaware of the details of the research.

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Persons: Mandiant, ” Ryan Serabian, Liu Pengyu, ” Liu, Joe Biden, Republican Sen, Marco Rubio Organizations: CNN, China, Shanghai Haixun Technology, Embassy, Washington Post, stoke American, FBI, Republican Locations: Washington, Beijing, China, Xinjiang, DC, Shanghai, Mandiant, Russia, Marco Rubio of Florida