Spanish police have arrested a man for sexual assault after he allegedly groped a female journalist as she was reporting live on television.

The incident, which comes days after Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales was placed under criminal investigation for kissing a player after the women’s World Cup final, has stoked outrage in the country.

Isa Balado was reporting on a robbery in central Madrid on Tuesday when the man approached her from behind and appeared to touch her bottom and interrupted by asking what channel she was from.

Ms Balado continued but the host of the show, aired on channel Cuatro, decided to challenge the man.

“Isa, forgive me for interrupting you... but did he just touch your bottom?” Nacho Abad asked.

Ms Balado said he had, prompting Mr Abad to demand the “idiot” be put on camera. The reporter asked him why he felt the need to touch her bottom, something the man denied.

He smiled, tousled her hair and walked away.

At one point, Ms Balado apologised to the studio for what had happened.

“No, you have nothing to feel sorry for,” said Mr Abad. “It makes me so mad.”

The reporter later explained that the same man continued to linger nearby and was accosting and touching other women he came across in the street.

Police later said that a man had been arrested for allegedly assaulting a reporter while she was doing a live television show.

Mediaset Espana, which owns Cuatro, issued a statement expressing its support for Ms Balado after the “absolutely intolerable situation” she suffered.

Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s Labour minister and deputy prime minister, said the incident should not go unpunished.

She said: “It is machismo that makes journalists suffer sexual assaults like this, and the aggressors are unrepentant in front of the camera.”