SINGAPORE - A 49-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the assault on teen blogger Amos Yee outside the State Courts on Thursday.

"In response to media queries, the Police confirm that a 49-year-old man was arrested in relation to the case. Police investigations are ongoing," a police statement said on Friday.

The police had earlier said that a report was made against the man who struck Yee on the face.

Videos posted online on Thursday showed a man in a red T-shirt slapping the 16-year-old on the left cheek, startling passers-by, before yelling, "Come and sue me!". The man appeared to be in his 30s.

Yee, who was on his way to attend a pre-trial conference at the State Courts, seemed shocked by the incident. He gripped his face in pain and continued walking into the State Courts building.

#AmosYee was slapped by a stranger outside the court house. "Sue me, come and sue me!" the man shouted and fled. A video posted by Bhavan Jaipragas (@jbhavan) onApr 30, 2015 at 12:01am PDT

Following the incident, Law Minister K. Shanmugam said in a post on his Facebook page that the assault on Yee was "unacceptable".

On March 31, the teenager was charged with attacking Christianity, transmitting an obscene image and making an online video which included offensive remarks about the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. The prosecution has, for now, stood down the last charge, meaning it could be heard later.

It will proceed with charges of him attacking Christianity and transmitting an obscene image.

Yee was remanded on April 17 after the judge at a pre-trial conference converted the $20,000 police bail that he had been on to court bail, requiring bail to be reposted. But his parents decided against posting bail.

Yee was later bailed out by family and youth counsellor Vincent Law who was hoping that the teen would be willing to be counselled.

On Thursday, Yee was sent back to to remand in Changi Prison after Mr Law decided to discharge himself. He told The Straits Times that he was forced to do this because Yee refused to comply with bail conditions.

Yee had posted on his blog and Facebook page, breaching bail conditions that disallowed him from doing so.

On Wednesday, he wrote two blog posts titled "The Ridiculous Terms of my Bail" and "My Abusive Father". He shared them on his Facebook page on Thursday morning.

During his pre-trial conference, which was held in chambers, judge Kessler Soh had asked Yee to take down his latest posts. He refused.

The teenager will appear before the court again on Monday, May 4, for another pre-trial conference in which a trial date will be picked.

jalmsab@sph.com.sg