George Clooney Arrested at South Sudan Protest
George Clooney has been led away in handcuffs after participating in a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. Clooney was in Washington to speak with President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao about the plight of South Sudanese residents.
Clooney, his father Nick, and Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Moran, as well as other civilians marched to the Embassy holding signs reading: "Sudan: Stop Weapons of Mass Starvation."
The group has hoped to bring attention to the war-torn South Sudan border, which is being threatened by Sudanese officials.
"In general, what we saw were Nuban people who were incredibly vulnerable… There's a rainy season coming and there's a great many people who could starve to death," Clooney testified before Congress.
"This has been done intentionally, these people usually are farming and have planted by now, but they're hiding in caves. What you see is a constant drip of fear every day those Antonovs fly overhead," he explained.
Those at the protest have charged that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is responsible for provoking unrest between the two countries and blocking aid from citizens of South Sudan.
Clooney has been passionate about his work in Sudan and has just returned from a visit to the war-torn area, traveling between Sudan and South Sudan. There he met with South Sudan President Salva Kir and helped found the Satellite Sentinel Project; a project that uses satellite imagery to track military movement and hopes to bring greater security to the South Sudan region.
Two years ago Clooney traveled to the same area with reporter Ann Curry in the hopes of bringing attention to the threat of civil war and the plight of the South Sudanese. Back then, Clooney told Curry, "The cameras are going to follow me everywhere anyway. Why not follow me to a place where they should be going?"
Now that Clooney has been arrested, there will certainly be media buzz and attention about the plight of the South Sudanese. There has been no word from the White House or Sudanese Embassy.
