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A man was arrested after groping television journalist Isa Balado while she was doing a live report.
The 25-year-old man was arrested "for sexually assaulting a reporter while she was doing a live television show," the Spanish National Police Department confirmed in a post shared on its X account, which included a video of the man being detained. Balado was reporting on a robbery that took place in Madrid when the man approached her and appeared to grab her buttocks.
"Isa, sorry to interrupt, did they just touch your butt?" her Cuatro colleague, Nacho Abad, asked in Spanish from the news station's studio before insisting she put the man on camera.
"Yes," Balado replied, before turning to the man and asking, "as much as you want to ask us which channel we work for, do you really have to touch my ass?" in Spanish.
The man initially laughed and denied wrongdoing before apologizing and then staring at her while she continued, which prompted the reporter to plead for him to let her do her job. The man was then seen attempting to brush Balado's hair as he walked away.
Madrid Police saw the incident take place on the broadcast and transported the man to the Family and Women's Department at the department's headquarters. Cuatro issued a statement in Spanish saying that it "categorically repudiates any form of harassment or aggression. We fully support Isa Balado, reporter for 'En boca de todos', after the absolutely intolerable situation she has suffered today," via Reuters.