WASHINGTON — George Clooney and his father were arrested Friday at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy.
The protesters accuse Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of provoking a humanitarian crisis and blocking food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains in the county’s border region with South Sudan.
The actor, his journalist dad, Nick Clooney, and others were arrested after being warned three times not to cross a police line outside the embassy. Those taken into custody also included NAACP president Ben Jealous, Martin Luther King III and comedian Dick Gregory.
Several members of Congress also were arrested, including Reps. James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Al Green of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia. They were handcuffed and placed into a U.S. Secret Service van.
Clooney was released several hours later after paying a $100 fine.
His arrest came after he met this week with President Barack Obama, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and attended a state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Clooney said before he was arrested that he hopes to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan but that he didn’t know whether any progress has been made. He said he was impressed, though, with Obama’s engagement on the issue. “It’s amazing to sit down with a world leader who knows all of the intricacies of what’s going on in Sudan,” he said.
A YouTube video Clooney recently posted online from a trip to Sudan appears to show a Chinese-made missile being used against the Nuba community.
Clooney said international leaders need to “follow the money” flowing to Sudan’s leaders to expose corruption.
