Spanish police arrested a man on suspicion of sexual harassment after he apparently touched a television journalist’s buttocks during a live report on the streets of Madrid, Spain.
The man approached Isa Balado, a journalist on the program “En boca de todos”, on the Spanish channel Cuatro, while she was reporting on an alleged robbery on Tuesday (12).
The man can be seen approaching her and appearing to touch the reporter’s buttocks as she talks to presenter Nacho Abad in the studio.
Balado tried to continue with his piece for the camera, but Abad asked if the man had finished playing it.
When Balado said yes, Abad asked her to put “this stupid guy” on camera.
The camera then zooms out to show Balado and the man.
See also: Punishments for sexual harassment are rare at state universities in SP, says CNN survey
“Do you really need to touch my ass?” she asked, before telling him that she was on live television. “I wish you would let me work.”
He continued to talk to her, before reaching out to scratch her head and then walking away.
Balado then continued with the rest of his report.
In a later video segment, Balado commented on what happened.
“It’s very unpleasant, especially when you’re working,” she said, before the camera panned to show the man standing in the street with another man.
He then approached Balado again and tried to speak to her before she asked him to stop the broadcast.
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The incident sparked outrage from Spanish politicians, including Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz.
“Machismo means that journalists suffer sexual assaults like this and that the attackers appear on camera without regret,” Díaz wrote in a Tuesday post on X, formerly Twitter. “This cannot go unpunished.”
Equality Minister Irene Montero also expressed support for Balado.
“Non-consensual touching is sexual violence,” she wrote in a post on X. “Only yes means yes.”
The man was later arrested and Spain’s national police posted a video of him being led away in handcuffs.
On Wednesday he was released by the Madrid magistrates court. The judge did not impose any precautionary measures because she did not believe there was any ongoing risk to the victim, the court said in a statement sent to CNN .
A spokesperson for the Madrid Supreme Court of Justice told CNN that the investigation and criminal proceedings will continue.
Balado’s colleagues criticized the decision to release him.
“That’s the problem,” said presenter Verónica Dulanto on Cuatro on Wednesday. “He hasn’t even been there 24 hours.”
A CNN has reached out to Mediaset Espana, Cuatro’s parent company, for comment.
The incident comes as Spain faces a reckoning over sexual assault and gender-based violence after Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish football federation, was accused of kissing Women’s World Cup winner Jennifer Hermoso without consent.
Rubiales resigned from his position on Sunday after weeks of fierce criticism.
Hermoso’s unwanted kiss occurred after the Spanish team’s victory in the Women’s World Cup final on August 20 and sparked condemnation in Spain and around the world.
The 46-year-old has since apologized and described the kiss as “mutual” – a claim Hermoso denied, saying she did not consent and was not respected.
(Benjamin Brown, from CNN contributed to this text)
Source: CNN Brasil
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