Yahoo News Australia’s ‘egg boy’ and senator avoid charges after spat over Christchurch shootings
A teenager dubbed ‘egg boy’ will not be charged for cracking an egg over an Australian politician.
Police have said they will not charge the Australian teenager or a senator for a spat in which the boy cracked an egg on the politician’s head and the man retaliated.
Will Connolly, 17, gained fame as ‘egg boy’ for egging senator Fraser Anning in Melbourne last month.
The senator caused controversy by blaming the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand on Muslim immigration.
Victoria state police said in a statement that after reviewing footage and interviewing both participants, they had issued an official caution only to Mr Connolly.
They said they concluded Mr Anning had acted in self-defence when he twice struck the teenager afterwards.
Mr Anning’s colleagues in Australia’s Parliament passed a censure motion against him last week, saying his statements blaming the victims were ugly and dangerous.
Mr Connolly walked up behind Mr Anning during a televised press conference and planted the egg on his head.
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Mr Anning reacted by hitting the teenager before his supporters tackled him to the ground and held him down.
“On assessment of all the circumstances, the 69-year-old’s actions were treated as self-defence and there was no reasonable prospect of conviction,” said Victoria Police in a statement.
Police say they are still looking for a man who allegedly kicked the teenager repeatedly while he was on the ground.
An online campaign raised more than £43,000 for ‘egg boy’ to help pay for his legal battle.
Mr Connolly said last month: “I understand what I did was not the right thing to do.”
He added: “However, this egg has united people.”
More than 1.4 million people signed a petition calling for Mr Anning to resign after his comments about the Christchurch massacre, in which 50 people were killed at two mosques.
The Senate officially condemned Mr Anning for trying to “attribute blame to victims of a horrific crime and to vilify people on the basis of religion”.
