The French Spiderman climbs a 217-meter skyscraper in Manila at the age of 61

Efe Bangkok

bangkok

Updated Tuesday, March 5, 2024-13:21

The climber Alain Robert, known as the French

Spiderman

, scaled a 217-meter skyscraper in Manila this Tuesday, at the age of 61, to show his support for the Philippines in its sovereignty dispute with Beijing in the waters of the South China Sea.

Without a harness or ropes

, the Frenchman calmly climbed the 47-story GT Capital building, considered the

tenth tallest building in the Philippines

, and then descended to the sidewalk, where he was arrested by the police.

However, Robert previously explained to reporters that he is

used to being arrested for climbing buildings

, as he does not usually ask for permission beforehand, although they usually end in fines and reprimands that are not serious.

"In fact I'm used to it.

I've been arrested 150 or 160 times in my life

around the world, so for me it's normal to be arrested," said the Frenchman, who described his demonstration in Manila as a "small escalation."

He explained that he has visited and climbed several times in the Philippines, where he first traveled in 1997, and that he has a lot of appreciation for the Filipinos, whom he considers "joyful" people, and feels welcome in the country.

"I know that there is tension in the Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and I just want to remember that the sea and the islands belong to the Philippines and no one else," stressed the climber, who

has broken his bones several times from falls from up to 15 meters.

Manila and Beijing are in dispute over several islands and maritime areas in the South China Sea, since the Chinese authorities claim almost all of these waters and the archipelagos in them.

Robert

began climbing buildings and monuments in the 1990s

, but rose to global fame in 2011 after conquering the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

Throughout his career, he has scaled more than a hundred buildings and monuments around the world, including the Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Empire State Building in New York, the Tower Sears in Chicago (all three in the United States), the Sydney Opera House (Australia) and the Agbar Tower in Barcelona (Spain).