Police won’t charge Australian teen or senator over egg spat

In this March 16, 2019, file image made from video, a teenager breaks an egg on the head of Senator Fraser Anning while he holds a press conference, in Melbourne. Police say 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. (AP Photo/File)

SYDNEY — Police said they will not charge an Australian teenager or a senator for a spat in which the boy cracked an egg on the politician’s head and the man retaliated.

Victoria state police said in a statement Tuesday that after reviewing footage and interviewing both participants, they had issued an official caution only to 17-year-old Will Connolly. They said they concluded Senator Fraser Anning had acted in self-defense when he twice struck the teen afterward.

Connolly gained fame as “Egg Boy” for egging Anning in Melbourne last month, after the senator controversially blamed the Christchurch mosque massacre on Muslim immigration.

Connolly said in an interview with Ten network’s “The Project” that he was disgusted by the senator’s comments but understood his actions were wrong.

“I understand what I did was not the right thing to do. I can understand why some people would react the way they did,” he said. “There is no reason to physically attack anyone.”

Police said they were still trying to identify a man who allegedly kicked Connolly while the teen was restrained on the floor by Anning’s supporters.

Anning’s colleagues in Australia’s Parliament passed a censure motion against him last week for divisive comments “seeking to attribute blame to victims of a horrific crime and to vilify people on the basis of religion, which do not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people.”

Anning sits as an independent lawmaker and had dismissed the censure motion as an attack on free speech.

Last month he also defended striking Connolly, saying: “He got a slap across the face, which is what his mother should have given him long ago, because he’s been misbehaving badly.” /kga