The man at the heart of the royal egg throwing storm has defended himself today (Thursday).
Patrick Thelwell, 23, was arrested by police after three eggs were thrown at the King as he spoke to the civic party at Micklegate Bar at the start of his visit to York.
Police said today that he had been interviewed and released on police bail.
In a video interview for YorkMix, Mr Thelwell described how the crowd attacked him after the incident in Micklegate. But he also said he’d received messages of support since the video of the egg throwing incident hit the headlines.
He told us: “The King doesn’t have my respect, and he shouldn’t have yours too. Why? Because he’s the figurehead for an imperialist state that, through its colonial activities, murdered millions of people.”
He said: “I’ve had people message me to tell me that they’re sad that they’ve moved away from York because this was what they see as the city that they loved.
“And York’s always been a rebel city. That’s definitely part of our history.
“I think the people of York are what makes this a great place. And the king is not one of the great people of York like nurses and teachers and stuff that actually make the city run.
“The Duke of York, our own Duke, was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein and should have been stripped of his title long ago.”
No ego, just eggs
The egg throwing incident was met with outrage on social media with people suggesting that it was very embarrassing for the city of York.
And given his serial protesting, people have described him as an egotistical attention seeker.
But Mr Thelwell said: “The actions that I take are, from my perspective, without ego.
“I do them because there’s a political message that I have that’s more important than me.
“When those eggs were thrown, the crowd lost their minds. People were tearing my hair out. Some of your viewers might be like: Good, that’s what he deserves.
“I’d say that promoting violence against peaceful protesters – which I am – is fascism.”
He said people were screaming and pushing past the police to kick him.
Given the circumstances, with the new monarch in the firing line, it was put to him that the public’s anger was understandable.
Mr Thelwell replied: “Why should we as a society celebrate an unelected person who’s blood, we are told, is better than ours. What is there to be proud of to support that?
“What we can be proud of is is the things we achieve together in our towns and cities, it’s got nothing to do with the flag or the person who calls himself king.”
And he was disparaging of those who wanted to be a part of the royal visit by the King and Camilla, Queen Consort.
“I’m sorry if you’re really excited to just watch this old man who was best friends with Jimmy Savile walk past, because that’s something you think you should tell your grandkids about.
“Go out see the rest of York, there’s some lovely places around here. You don’t need to you don’t need to kneel for any king, you can just be your own person.”
He told YorkMix he is now not allowed to be less than 500 metres from the King Charles as part of his bail conditions. He was also told he couldn’t possess eggs in a public place unless he’d been shopping for food.
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