China artist Ai Weiwei ordered to remove home webcams, "given no reason for order" by authorities

[Amerigo Vespucci]

China artist Ai Weiwei ordered to remove home webcams

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/05/china-artist-ai-weiwei-ordered-to-remove-home-webcams/

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, April 5, 2012 7:14 EDT



Chinese artist and government critic Ai Weiwei said he was ordered to take down four live webcams he installed in his home this week to mock authorities’ round-the-clock surveillance of him.

Ai, who was held in secret detention for 81 days last year as part of a widespread clampdown on dissent in China, said authorities had telephoned and given him a “clear order” to stop the live feed from his Beijing house.

“They asked me to turn them off, shut them down,” the 54-year-old told AFP on Thursday, adding that he was given no reason for the order.

Ai was released from detention last June, but given a one-year probation during which he must stay in Beijing, and lives under almost constant police surveillance.

[MADem]

1. The webcams would show the secret police searching his house when he was out.

I mean...duhhhhh!

They aren't even subtle, are they? I thought that kind of ham-handed stuff was limited to the middle east!