The moment Batman star Christian Bale was roughed up by guards while trying to visit blind Chinese activist

Actor pushed, shoved, punched and then followed after attempt to see lawyer under house arrest

Hollywood star said all he wanted to do was 'shake the man's hand...and tell him what an inspiration he is'

Chen Guangcheng , a blind lawyer, angered authorities in 2005 by exposing forced abortions as part of China's one-child policy

Hollywood actor Christian Bale was manhandled and roughed up by Chinese security guards as he tried to visit a blind legal activist whose detention has sparked international outcry.



Bale, joined by a camera crew from CNN, was confronted by four men dressed in plain clothes as he tried to visit Chen Guangcheng who has been under house arrest in the Dongshigu village for 15 months.



The Oscar-winning actor, who plays superhero Batman, can be seen being pushed and shoved by the guards before being frogmarched away in the video released by CNN.



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Man-handled: Christian Bale was roughed up by Chinese security guards as he attempted to visit blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng

'Why can I not visit this free man?' Bale can be heard repeatedly asking the security officers, while they were pushing him.



In response the guards are reported to have shouted 'Go away!' while physically shoving Bale and the crew on Thursday.



According to the report, Bale was also punched by the guards who were aiming for his small camera in an attempt to stop him recording.

Once Bale and the crew left the area, they were pursued by a grey minivan for over half-an-hour.



'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,' a clearly disappointed Bale told CNN after the incident.



'You know, I'm not being brave doing this,' he added.

Roughed up: The Chinese guards try to grab Christian Bale's camera after refusing to allow him to visit the activist on Thursday

Surrounded: Four guards gather around Christian Bale after he asked to see Chen Guangcheng in Dongshigu village in eastern Shandong province Raising awareness: Christian Bale continues filming on his camera as the guard attempts to shove the CNN crew in the scuffle in the Dongshigu village

'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.'

Chen, a blind, self-schooled lawyer, angered authorities in 2005 by exposing 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' and damaging property in a protest.

House arrest: Bale wanted to visit Chen, a blind, self-schooled lawyer, who angered authorities in 2005 by exposing forced abortions as part of China's one-child policy

Touched: The activist's story struck a chord with the actor so much so that that he decided to do something to raise international awareness of Chen's fate

The 40-year-old has since been confined to his home along with his wife, mother and daughter, and watched around the clock by guards.

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."'



Oscar-winning actor: Christian Bale was in China for the premiere of his new film 'The Flowers of War' which he attended on Monday (pictured)

Bale had first learned about Chen through news reports, when he was in China filming a wartime drama set in 1930s Nanjing in which he plays a mortician trying to save a group of schoolgirls from the clutches invading Japanese soldiers, reports CNN.

The film itself has already proved controversial as it was partly funded by state-owned Bank of China. Many believe it to be an attempt by the Chinese government to exert “soft power” and make cultural inroads in the West.



The film is based on the novel The 13 Women of Nanjing by Geling Yan and has been selected as China’s entry for the best foreign language film at next year’s Oscars.

The activist's story struck a chord with the actor so much so that that he decided to do something to raise international awareness of Chen.



Journalists and scores of Chinese human rights activists have sought to visit Chen in the past, all unsuccessfully.



Chen's case has also been raised publicly by U.S. congressmen and diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, all to no response from China.