Six months prison for teenager who punches Spanish PM

The 17-year-old who punched Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the face during a pre-election walkabout was been sent to a juvenile detention center for a period of six months on Thursday night.

The youngster, Andres de VF, whose mother is a cousin of Rajoy's wife and comes from a well-connected local family, hit the prime minister at around 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday as Rajoy was visiting Pontevedra in his native region of Galicia in the northwest of Spain.

Taking advantage of some lax security from a team of 13 guards supposed to be protecting the prime minister, the youngster, who is a radical supporter of the local football team, used the pretext of wanting to take a "selfie" with Rajoy in order to get close enough to punch him hard on the left side of his face, breaking his glasses in the process.

The incident left Rajoy with a mark on his face, but he was able to continue with his scheduled activities, later travelling to a rally of his Peoples Party in nearby La Coruna.

The 17-year-old was immediately arrested with police reports describing him as "euphoric" at what he had done.

It also emerged that he had told friends by text message he was planning to hit the prime minister and they had encouraged him, although when questioned they all insisted they had thought he was joking.

Rajoy received messages of support from all of the leaders of the political parties contesting Spain's upcoming general election. Endit