MADRID (Reuters) – Police in Spain arrested a person for alleged sexual assault of a journalist after he touched her rear whereas she was dwell on air, with the person’s actions prompting outrage from authorities ministers.
The incident comes as Spain is embroiled in a debate over sexism sparked by the scandal involving a kiss on the lips by the president of Spain’s soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, on World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso.
Anger over the kiss has snowballed right into a “Me Too” second constructing for years in a nation more and more illiberal of macho attitudes and sexual misconduct.
On Tuesday, Isa Balado was reporting on a theft in Madrid for channel Cuatro when a person approached her from behind and touched her backside earlier than asking her which tv channel she labored for.
Balado defined she was in the course of a dwell broadcast and tried to proceed together with her report however host Nacho Abad insisted that she put the person in entrance of the digicam.
She confronted him, telling him that she had been making an attempt to do her job.
As he walked away, he tried to the touch her head as she ducked out of the best way. The person continued to linger on the street and approached her as soon as extra, saying he had heard her accusations and that she ought to “inform the reality.”
Balado requested for the printed to be lower as a result of she didn’t need to give the person any extra consideration.
Police mentioned in a message on X, previously Twitter, {that a} man had been arrested for sexually assaulting a reporter dwell on air.
Mediaset Espana, which owns Cuatro, mentioned it “categorically repudiates any type of harassment or aggression. We absolutely help Isa Balado, reporter for ‘En boca de todos’, after the completely insupportable scenario she has suffered immediately.”
Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz mentioned the incident shouldn’t go unpunished.
“It’s machismo that makes journalists endure sexual assaults like this, and the aggressors are unrepentant in entrance of the digicam,” she wrote on X.
Equality Minister Irene Montero despatched her help to Balado.
“Non-consensual touching is sexual violence and we are saying sufficient to impunity,” she mentioned.
(Reporting by Charlie Devereux; Enhancing by Rosalba O’Brien)