Worry not Tobey Maguire fans, he’s not the Spiderman I’m talking about. Eccentric climber Alain Robert was reportedly arrested Friday after attempting to scale the tallest building in China. The self-proclaimed “French Spiderman” dared to conquer the 430-meter Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai without the help of any safety devices. Alain is [in]famous for scaling many of the world’s tallest buildings. He was even stopped midway into his ascent of the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.
Of course, such an attempt wouldn’t go unnoticed in China’s most populated city. Hundreds of people gathered at the base of the skyscraper to witness Robert’s daring feat. The people got so into it that even cars in the street came into a complete halt just to see what would happen next. Just like in previous climbs, the Frenchman donned a Spiderman suit and scaled the skyscraper as if it were just an anthill. He averaged a speed of 25 seconds per floor through out the entire 88-storey climb.
Unfortunately, Robert couldn’t use his speed on flat land. He was promptly arrested after he reached ground level by Chinese authorities. He faces up to five days in administrative detention for creating a public scandal.
This is not Robert’s first brush with the law since he started this weird hobby in 1994. He has also been arrested in other countries due to his daring climbs. He was incarcerated for 20 days in Japan in 1998 for going up the Tokyo Tower.