Bird's Nest stadium designer arrested by Chinese in crack down on dissidents



53-year-old designed Olympic Games Bird's Nest stadium and is exhibiting at the Tate Modern until May 2

Human rights groups 'shocked and worried' with China's clampdown on government dissidents



'Obviously, I am not free,' said artist in interview last Friday, two days before he was detained



One of China's most celebrated and internationally recognised artists has been detained in Beijing by police and has now been missing for 24 hours.

Ai Weiwei, who designed the impressive Bird's Nest stadium for the Chinese capital's 2008 Olympic Games, has long been an outspoken critic of the ruling Communist Party.

The 53-year-old's whereabouts remains unknown - though he was held at Beijing international airport - his studio has been searched, computers have been confiscated and his assistants quizzed.



And his wife claims that the authorities have not disclosed why they have taken Ai, whose Sunflower Seeds installation at London's Tate Modern will be exhibited until May 2.

Held: Celebrated artist Ai Weiwei has been detained by the Chinese police - here the 53-year-old holds aloft sunflower seeds, part of his installation at the Tate Modern

Lu Qing said that her husband was taken into custody yesterday at Beijing's international airport as he prepared to board a flight 'abroad'.



Members of his staff had said he was headed to Hong Kong and Lu said: 'As he was being detained, police came here with a search warrant and searched everywhere.

'They took the computer, computer disks and other materials. They refused to say why the search warrant was issued or why Ai Weiwei was taken away.'

Uniformed and plainclothes police went through his studio in Caochangdi, in the north of Beijing.



Several of Ai's assistants were also detained for questioning, but later released, said Lu, adding that she was not under house arrest.



Protected? Though he had been outspoken Ai was thought have been allowed to say more than most without punishment, due to the fame of him and his late father, a poet

Fame: Ai deigned the venerated Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing for the Olympic Games in 2008

Beijing police refused to comment on Ai's detention today, though it comes as the government continue a crackdown on dissidents, amid concerns about the 'Jasmine Revolution', which has swept through the Middle East and across to North Africa, reaching China.



In recent weeks scores of dissidents, activists, and rights lawyers have been rounded, with many placed under house arrest or disappearing into police custody.



At least 23 people have been criminally detained, mostly in relation to incitement to subversion or creating a disturbance and three more have been formally arrested and more than a dozen are missing, including high profile human rights lawyers.

The clampdown followed anonymous online calls which emerged in February for protests each Sunday around the country to demand political change in China, with the view to emulate those that have rocked the Arab world.

Illuminating: Ai's Bird's Nest - shown here lit up - was one of a number of high-profile designs made by the Chinese artist

A frequent critic of China's Communist Party leaders, Ai, who investigated school collapses in the massive 2008 earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan, has repeatedly run into problems with the authorities in the past.

Although Ai has repeatedly experienced harassment from the authorities for his views, it was thought that he was in part protected by the status of his late father, a celebrated poet, and his international profile .



However, he said in February that his first large solo exhibition in mainland China was cancelled after organisers said the timing was too politically sensitive.



In January, his newly built Shanghai studio was demolished in apparent retaliation for his criticism of city policies.



Seedy: For the Sunflower Seeds installation Ai used 100 million seeds and scattered them across the bottom floor of the Tate Modern

And he was blocked from leaving China in December ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo for jailed Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo.



Ai said last week that he planned to set up a studio in Germany to show his work, explaining he was fed up with the hurdles of exhibiting in China.



'It's very discouraging what's happening here and if I want to continue to develop my work, I have to find a base,' said the artist.

And in an interview recorded on Friday, he told German TV station ARD: 'There are two surveillance cameras at my gate entrance, my phone is tapped, and every message I send on my microblog is censored by them. Obviously, I am not free.'



Ai's mobuile phone has been switched off and no new postings have been seen on his Twitter site.

And an officer told one of his assistants, who was travelling with him, that the artist had 'other business' and would not be allowed to board the plane.



Postings on his Chinese micro-blog webpage have been deleted and news of his detention appears to have been stripped from major Chinese news portals.



Searches on his name in Chinese on microblogging site Sina Weibo produced no results.

The disappearance of Ai drew immediate concern from numerous human rights groups.



'The Chinese government is stepping up its harassment of the remaining prominent dissidents and is trying to silence all of its critics,' the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said.



'We urge the international community to react firmly to the arrests of bloggers and cyber-dissidents that are taking place at an unprecedented rate.'

Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a statement: 'Since mid-February, the government has stepped up pressure on activists and rights defenders and in recent days the oppression has become more stifling.

