George Clooney was arrested in Washington, D.C. Friday while participating in a protest against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Demonstrators holding signs reading "Stop Bombing Civilians Now!" and "End the silence stop the violence” blocked the entrance to the Sudanese Embassy in protest of al-Bashir blocking humanitarian aid.
Just moments before his arrest Clooney said humanitarian aid is needed in Sudan “before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world."
The actor and numerous other protesters were arrested after ignoring three police orders to disperse. Clooney talked to reporters as his hands were being bound with plastic zip-ties. “I’m just trying to raise attention,” he said. "This is for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them and stop starving them. That's all we ask.”
Among those arrested along with Clooney were his father, journalist Nick Clooney; End Genocide President Tom Andrews; U.S. Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia; NAACP President Ben Jealous; and Martin Luther King III.
A Secret Service spokesman told People magazine Clooney was charged with “disorderly crossing of a police line.” He will be required to pay a $100 fine.
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