Date: 16th December 2011

Christian Bale shoved by guards while trying to visit Chinese activist


"Batman" star Christian Bale, in the midst of promoting a film he made in China that some critics have called propaganda, was stopped from visiting a blind activist living under house arrest — with a CNN crew in tow.

CNN posted video footage of a scuffle between Bale and the activist's guards on its website Friday.

The run-in and publicity is likely to cause discomfort in China's government-backed film industry, which hopes Bale's movie Flowers of War, The (2011) will be a creative success at home and abroad. The star's actions are sure to focus attention on the plight of Chen Guangcheng, guarded around the clock by thugs who have blocked dozens of reporters and fellow activists trying to see him in the past.

Bale was to leave China on Friday and his representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

Source: Press Release