Melbourne footy fan arrested heckling Queen coffin procession
Police arrested a 22-year-old man wearing a Melbourne City FC hoodie after he hurled abuse as the royal family marched through Edinburgh. Watch the video
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A 22-year-old man wearing a Melbourne City FC hoodie has been arrested after hurling abuse at the Duke of York as he walked behind the coffin of his mother Queen Elizabeth.
Prince Andrew, alongside his siblings King Charles, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex, were walking behind the hearse through the streets of Edinburgh with thousands lining the street but respectfully silent.
But as the procession moved up the Royal Mile a man began yelling.
“You’re a sick old man,” he said on the live TV broadcast, before a mourner could be seen grabbing him by his hoodie and dragging him to the ground.
Around others began yelling “God Save the King” to drown the heckler out.
Someone immediately responded with, “God Save the King”.
While the man was wearing a blue Melbourne City FC hoodie, police confirmed that he was not an Australian.
A mourner who initially dragged him away can be seen in the footage calling the heckler a name and pushing him. A woman nearby can be heard on footage shouting “get your hands off him”.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “A 22-year old man was arrested in connection with a breach of the peace on the Royal Mile around 2.50pm on Monday, 12 September 2022.”
“I have no further details in relation to this incident, he has not yet been charged with anything, just arrested at this point,” he added.
Breach of the peace is a disorderly conduct charge that, in Scotland, is punishable by up to 12 months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000 (AUD$8,500).
It comes a day after a woman was charged with breaching the peace during the Accession Proclamation for King Charles III in Edinburgh.
Prince Andrew heckled as the Queen's coffin passes pic.twitter.com/85m9jUgszF
— Christopher Marshall (@chrismarshll) September 12, 2022
The woman, who has not been named, is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.
“She was charged and was released on an undertaking to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date,” a police spokesman said.
The 62-year-old Prince Andrew was forced to stand down as a working royal earlier this year after being accused of sexually abusing a sex trafficked teenager American-Australian Virginia Giuffre during a friendship with disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He was stripped of all honorary military titles and patronages and removed from virtually all facets of royal life.
The Duke of York stepped back from public duties in November 2019 over his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.