TV host 'assaulted climate protester' at Trump celebration

A TV presenter assaulted a fossil fuel protester who disrupted a Republican Overseas gala dinner with "excessive and unreasonable force", a court has heard.

Andre Walker, 47 from Windsor, appeared at Reading Magistrates' Court on Thursday charged with one count of assault by beating.

It is alleged that Walker assaulted Dr Kush Naker, a campaigner from the organisation Fossil Free London, who staged a protest at an event Walker had helped to organise at the Windsor Guildhall on 16 September 2025.

The Talk TV host denies the offence and told the court he "was acting in a way that was to protect the artwork" in the building.

The court heard that the event was organised by Republican Overseas UK and was held to celebrate Donald Trump's second state visit to the UK, however Trump was not present at the event.

Dr Naker was at the event with fellow Fossil Free London campaigners Robin Wells and two other campaigners, who were there to take footage of the protest.

The court heard the four campaigners had purchased publicly available tickets for the event, for £80.

As food was starting to be served, Wells began to address the diners regarding the Trump administration's climate policies.

Dr Naker then joined Wells in chanting "if we drill baby drill how many will we kill", while both held yellow cloth banners depicting the phrase "oily money kills".

Opening the trial, prosecutor Ashleigh Cheung said that Walker approached Naker "at pace from the back of the room".

Naker told the court that Walker "grabbed" his arm and "pulled" him with "vigorous force", which resulted in him losing his balance and falling to the ground.

Walker said: "I took the man that I now know is Dr Naker and I began pulling him away, and he flopped to the floor."

The court was later shown a series of videos which showed Dr Naker being dragged out of the dinner hall, with Walker holding his hands and another man holding his feet, into a room known as the Mayor's Parlour, the only room in the building without CCTV.

The court was told that Walker attempted to punch him numerous times, and also attempted to knee his groin area.

Describing what allegedly happened in the Mayor's Parlour, Dr Naker said he was "on the ground" with Walker "leaning over me".

"He started trying to punch me. I grabbed onto his arm at the wrist. He then tried to strangle me," Naker told the court.

Walker denied these allegations.

Naker said Walker "didn't manage to apply much force as I was able to push him away".

When asked by Cheung how much strength Dr Naker used when "grappling" with Walker, he responded: "All of it."

Dr Naker told the court he was left with "minor injuries".

The alleged assault in this room was witnessed by Tania Caiafa, the sales manager for the Guildhall, who told the court that Naker was "on the floor with Andre on top of him".

When giving evidence Walker denied that Dr Naker was underneath him and said he had his "knee on [Naker's] shoulder" to "prevent" him from going back into the dining hall.

Caiafa said Walker "had his knees on [Naker's] body" and said that "one arm was holding [Naker] down", with his other fist held "in the air at his head".

She added: "He had [his fist] held above him and he was shouting... [he said] I f****** hate you, why are you doing this to me now?."

She said Walker's legs and his arm were getting "closer and closer to his neck".

"It was so frightening because he would not stop," Caiafa told the court.

"[Walker] just would not let [Naker] go."

She then called the police.

When asked what Walker's "demeanor" was like after the incident, Caiafa said: "He found it funny.

"He joked about it, he said it was great for publicity... it just became a joke."

Defending Walker, Sir Robert Buckland KC asked Dr Naker if he entered the event "through deception", to which he responded: "Yes, I was deliberately dressed in a suit so I would not get kicked out of the venue."

Walker, who has 162,000 subscribers on YouTube and 43,000 followers on X, told the court that he feared the protesters would damage paintings in the building, and referenced an incident he saw at the News UK building in London involving climate protesters.

He told the court: "I was extremely concerned that they were going to start attacking valuable artwork so I started removing them.

"I was acting in a way that was to protect the artwork."

Cheung told the court that Walker "specifically took Mr Naker into the Mayor's Parlour knowing there were no cameras so you could assault him with excessive and unreasonable force", which he denied.

The court was also shown a series of screenshots, one of which was of a post on X Walker posted the day after the event.

It said: "My speech at the #Trump dinner last night in #Windsor. I did this after I threw the terrorists out!"

Another screenshot shown to the court showed a direct message sent by Walker on X inviting Naker or someone from Fossil Free London to come on his show.

Wells, who told the court she has attended "many" protests, said that Walker also made a call to the Fossil Free London press office the following morning about someone from the organisation coming on his show, but when she told him they were not interested, he "became very irate".

Naker said the protest was intended to be "peaceful", and said if he was asked to leave he would have done so.

Speaking on why they decided to protest at the event, Wells said: "Where people are meeting to applaud awful decisions that are causing a lot of suffering, we are keen to make it known that's not supported."

A piece-to-camera style video Walker took after the incident which was published on his YouTube channel and titled "TRUMP T&RROR ATTACK IN LONDON" was shown to the court.

In the video, which remains published on his YouTube channel, Walker described dragging Naker into the Mayor's Parlour and while standing in this room said: "Obviously there was no cameras at one point."

He then put two thumbs up to the camera.

When questioned about this, he told the court that he was "about to be publicly humiliated" and that he wanted to take "some dignity out of the situation".

Buckland told the court that Walker "genuinely and reasonably did what he thought was appropriate in the circumstances".

Cheung said: "In essence, the protest consisted of a woman holding a banner and a chant."

In response to this, Walker said: "I don't know what would have happened if I had not stopped the protest."

He described the situation as "loud and confusing", adding: "It was a lot more loud and confusing than you might imagine."

Reading Magistrates Court heard three positive character references and that Walker has no previous convictions.

Judge Sundeep Pankhania will give his verdict at the same court on 13 August.

Walker has been released on unconditional bail until then.