Kyle Thomson, 16, and his mother speak to Channel 9 tonight. The teen has been suspended for throwing a sandwich at the Prime Minister during a school visit but he denies being the culprit. Source: Supplied
PRIME Minister JULIA Gillard says she's treating a sandwich attack at a Queensland school as a laughing matter - but won't be offering a Prime Ministerial pardon.
Kyle Thomson, 16, has been suspended for 15 days after being blamed for throwing the sandwich as an otherwise friendly group of students mobbed the PM.
Kyle says he wasn't the sandwich thrower, and - in a move apparently straight out of the Secret Service textbook - says he was trying to knock it out of another student's hand.
"I would like to say that I am sorry that it happened to her," Mr Thomson told Ms Gillard during a radio interview on B105.
"But I'm innocent and I did not throw it."
Ms Gillard, who was surprised with the call from the schoolboy during a live interview, laughed it off.
Asked if she would lobby for Kyle - who has been suspended for his alleged actions - to get a pardon, Ms Gillard declined.
"Well I do sort of sympathise because it was just a little act of hijinx, whoever it was carried out by, but I think as Prime Minister what I've got to say is school principals are wonderful people and it is really for the school principal to deal with," she said.
PROTEST?: A student throws a sandwich at Prime Minister Julia Gillard as she visits a school in Queensland. Picture: Nine News Brisbane
Ms Gillard later told ABC radio she won't be giving the teen a "prime ministerial pardon" out of respect for the principal's decision.
"I would not want to undermine the authority of principal Alan Jones."
She said she was treating the sandwich incident as a laughing matter.
"I didn't see a sandwich in the air," she said.
"I did see half a sandwich on the ground.
"What I actually saw was screaming, over-excited and enthusiastic kids being very warm and very friendly."
Kyle was one of many teens who mobbed Julia Gillard during a visit to Marsden State High School, south of Brisbane, yesterday morning.
While speaking to students a sandwich was hurled in the direction of Ms Gillard, flying past her and hitting another student.
A teacher declared Kyle was the one who threw it and he was subsequently suspended for 15 days.
But Kyle has denied the allegations, instead claiming he tried to stop another student from throwing the sandwich.
"I hit the sandwich out of the kid's hand because he threw it," he told Channel 9.
"There was another one, so I hit it out of his hand."
Kyle's mother believes her son is being unfairly blamed for the incident and has demanded all footage from the visit be reviewed to find the real culprit.
"Kyle's no angel, don't get me wrong, but I think there is a lot more to the circumstances," she told Channel 9.
"I honestly wonder if he would have been suspended on the first day without all the investigations being done if it wasn't the Prime Minister."
She went on to say the incident had been blown out of proportion.
"I'm sure she's had more than a sandwich thrown at her throughout her life,"
Ms Gillard laughed off the incident as 'high-jinx.'
"One kid thought they might just be a little bit naughty," she said.
Earlier, it was reported that a student threw a sandwich but others cheered support for the Prime Minister as she arrived for a morning tea at Marsden High this morning.
Some students lining the footpath to the school hall yelled "loser" at Julia Gillard, but the reception was largely positive and drew comparisons to the adulation afforded Kevin Rudd on his way to an election victory in 2007.
A sandwich was thrown at the Prime Minister but it missed the mark as she made her way through the school grounds.
The PM's security struggled to keep up with the PM as students "went crazy" according to one bystander.
Ms Gillard used the function to announce $2.4 million for data collection on cancer over four years. The Prime Minister said cancer touched literally every Australian family in some way.
But Australia also leads the country in cancer treatment and prevention. "That is a key priority for me and my government,'' she said. Hundreds swarmed towards the PM after the speech asking for photographs.
The Prime Minister was at the school to attend a Biggest Morning Tea and meet community leaders from Logan.
An onlooker said some teachers tried to calm students while others looked disgusted at some students who were yelling abuse.
"It was complete chaos," she said.
Marsden High P & C president Michelle Campbell witnessed the incident, and said it was “disappointing”.
“Kids will be kids though,” she said.
-- by Heidi Braithwaite, Michael Madigan, Stephanie Bennett, Lanai Scarr and AAP
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