SAN JUAN – Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño hurriedly ended a press conference at a shipping terminal in the eastern town of Fajardo when a citizen threw an egg at him as the meeting with reporters was in progress.

Fortuño announced a project for the improvement of the boats that carry passengers to the islands of Vieques and Culebra with an investment planned for $8.2 million, when a citizen tossed the egg but missed his target.

The governor announced that the boats would be repaired in Fajardo, which would create new jobs, when the protester hurled the egg and asked him how he was going to create jobs if what he was doing was firing government workers.

The Fortuño administration announced last Friday the layoff of 17,000 public employees to meet the second phase of the Special Law for the Fiscal Emergency, with which it plans to reduce the budget deficit of $3.2 billion.

Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate is more than 15 percent. EFE