GERMANY/FILE: Supporters of imprisoned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei demonstrate in Kassel demanding his release

Record ID: 722521

  • Title: GERMANY/FILE: Supporters of imprisoned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei demonstrate in Kassel demanding his release
  • Date: 20th April 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTEST ORGANISER, ROLAND GOLDACK, SAYING: "A lot of people here in Kassel know him. We like him, we are friends of Ai Weiwei and he is a friend of us. We want him to be released." PEOPLE SEATED ON CHAIRS (SOUNDBITE) (German) PROTEST PARTICIPANT, MARIANNE SCHOPAN, SAYING: "We all know that Ai Weiwei disappeared. Nobody knows where he is. I find this very tragic and especially here in Kassel, we have a connection to Ai Weiwei because of the Documenta. There are not a lot of possibilities -- I don't know what could be done -- to influence the Chinese government." POSTER / WIDE OF PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (German) PROTEST PARTICIPANT, MARGOT ARABIEN, SAYING: "I am here because Ai Weiwei disappeared and because the issue is what can be done about it and what might touch the Chinese government. Maybe going public helps."
  • Embargoed: 5th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: International Relations,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA3QVRTRHOYJQ9H9NVRCU3VQ8XS
  • Story Text: Germans demanding the release of imprisoned Chinese artist and social critic Ai Weiwei demonstrate in his support at the site of the "Documenta" exhibition in northern Germany where Ai displayed his art in 2007.
    Several hundred people demonstrated in support of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in Germany on Tuesday evening (April 19), demanding Beijing immediately release the prominent critic of the ruling Communist Party.
    The protest was held in the city of Kassel where in 2007, Ai displayed his "Fairytale" art project at the internationally renowned "Documenta."
    Participants of the protest were asked to bring a chair with them, a reference to Ai's Documenta project where he enabled 1,001 "ordinary Chinese" to visit the art exhibition.
    At the time, the 1,001 Chinese were accompanied by 1,001 wooden chairs.
    Protest organiser Roland Goldack said "A lot of people here in Kassel know him. We like him, we are friends of Ai Weiwei and he is a friend of us. We want him to be released."
    Middle-aged protester Marianne Schopan said she participated in the demonstration of support because "nobody knows where he is. I find this very tragic and especially here in Kassel, we have a connection to Ai Weiwei because of the Documenta. There are not a lot of possibilities -- I don't know what could be done -- to influence the Chinese government."
    Margot Arabien said "the issue is what can be done about it and what might touch the Chinese government. Maybe going public helps."
    Ai was arrested at Beijing airport earlier this month and several western governments, among them Germany and the United Kingdom, urged China to free him.
    The 53-year-old artist's detention adds to a lengthening list of dissidents held in a security crackdown by a government determined to snuff out any hint of challenges to its power as it approaches a leadership transition in late 2012.
    Ai, a favourite among art collectors who often pay sizeable sums for his works at auction, has the highest international profile of scores of critics detained in the past two months.
    Ai's career spans protests for artistic freedom in 1979, provocative works in the 1990s, and a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
    His public comments, activities and art are some of the loudest and most flagrantly defiant forms of speech in China, where government controls on the Internet and traditional media constrain civil society.
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