The teenager who egged Senator Fraser Anning after he blamed immigration for the Christchurch Mosque massacre has seen his social media following grow by tens of thousands.
Will Connolly, 17, from Victoria, was behind Mr Anning at a Conservative National Party Meeting in Melbourne, on Saturday afternoon when he smashed an egg on the back of the senator’s head.
A short scuffle ensued and the schoolboy was grabbed around the neck, tackled to the ground and restrained by up to five men after the egging.
The teenager who egged Senator Fraser Anning after he blamed immigration for the Christchurch Mosque massacre has seen his social media following grow by tens of thousands (pictured)
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the schoolboy’s Facebook page to heap praise on him for egging Senator Fraser Anning
Many of the people heaping praise on the schoolboy called him a hero for his actions with all nationalities united in support for him
An image from the event then shows the youngster being escorted from the venue by police.
Since the story broke, Mr Connolly’s social media following on Instagram has risen to 178,000.
Meanwhile, he has also received more than 30,000 comments of praise from all over the world including the Netherlands, Morocco and Egypt.
‘You are a hero, we are proud of you, greeting you from Libya respect,’ one user wrote.
‘Respect and million thanks! You are amazing and make the world vibrate,’ another added.
The incident has resulted in the youngster’s social media following growing within hours as people from all over the world praised him for his efforts
The egging occurred after Mr Anning released a controversial response in the wake of the Christchurch Mosque massacre on Friday.
‘I am utterly opposed to any form of violence in our community, and I totally condemn the actions of the gunman,’ Mr Anning said.
‘However, whilst this kind of violent vigilantism can never be justified, what it highlights is the growing fear within the community, both in Australia and New Zealand, of the increasing Muslim presence.’
People from all over the world took to Will Connolly’s social media pages to share words of encouragement and thanks
The senator, who has since been kicked out of the Katter’s Australian Party, sparked a deluge of negative reactions, with many people condemning him on social media.
‘White supremacy (your ideology) killed these people. Shut the f*** up and have some respect,’ one person wrote on Twitter.
‘Resign. You do not deserve to stand representative of the Australian people,’ another person said.
A third person added: ‘You are an embarrassment to humanity’.
In a follow-up statement, Senator Fraser Anning said he opposed to any form of violence within our community and totally condemned the actions of the gunman.
The egging came after Mr Anning released a controversial response in the wake of the Christchurch Mosque massacre on Friday
A petition has been created calling for the senator to be expelled from Australian Parliament.
‘We call on the Australian government to expel this man who blames victims for their own violent deaths, and uses references to genocide to further his hateful agenda,’ the petition says.
The petition has already been signed more than 750,000 times and will be sent to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office upon completion.
‘Realistically, we all understand that it is likely to be constitutionally impossible to expel Anning,’ the petition reads.
‘We can however send out a strong message that vile hate speech will not be condoned, and that Muslims, or indeed any group of people, will not have their dignity and rights eroded.’