BEIJING (Reuters) ? Hollywood actor Christian Bale was roughed up by Chinese security guards as he attempted to visit a blind legal activist whose detention has sparked a domestic and international outcry, CNN reported on Friday.
Bale, who plays crime-fighting superhero Batman, and the camera crew from CNN were jostled by men in plainclothes from Dongshigu village in eastern Shandong province, where activist Chen Guangcheng has been under house arrest for 15 months, according to a video released by CNN on its website.
"Why can I not visit this man?" Bale asked several security officers, while they were pushing him.
"You know, I'm not being brave doing this," Bale told CNN. "The local people who are standing up to the authorities and insisting on going to visit Chen and his family and getting beaten up for it, and my understanding, getting detained for it and everything. I want to support what they are doing."
CNN said the guards shadowed its van for more than half an hour.
The fate of Chen, a self-schooled advocate who has campaigned against forced abortions, has become a test of wills, pitting the Communist Party's crackdown on dissent against activists championing his cause and that of artist Ai Weiwei.
In recent months, dozens of supporters have been blocked from visiting Chen. Many were beaten by men in plain clothes.
CNN said that Bale, who is in China for the premiere of his latest film "The Flowers of War," approached the news network to try to meet Chen. They took an eight-hour car journey to Chen's village from Beijing.
"This doesn't come naturally to me," Bale said to CNN. "But this was just a situation, I said, I can't look the other way."
Internet users took to the Twitter-like microblogging service, Weibo, to applaud Bale's visit to see the "blind man." Aauthorities have blocked searches for "Chen Guangcheng."
"Mr. Bale, I admire your courage and heart," said a microblogger called "Chen Xiaoying wants to support."
"But next time if you want to save a person, remember to wear your Batman suit.The Chinese official media will not report this, it's up to CNN to broadcast it."
Chen angered Shandong officials in 2005 by exposing a program of forced abortions as part of China's one-child policy. He was formally released in September 2010 after four years in jail on a charge of "blocking traffic."
"What I really wanted to do is to shake the man's hand and say: 'Thank you,' and tell him what an inspiration he is," Bale told CNN.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee, Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom,; Editing by Ken Wills and Ron Popeski)
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