George Clooney arrested outside Sudanese embassy in Washington

George Clooney has been arrested for protesting outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington.

Associated Press reports that Clooney's father, Nick, has also been arrested.

He was among protesters who accuse the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, of blocking food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains in the county’s border region with South Sudan. The group gathered outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington holding signs that read "Sudan: Stop Weapons of Mass Starvation".

According to UN estimates 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million been displaced since the Darfur conflict broke out in 2003.

"George Clooney was arrested for crossing a police line at the Sudan embassy and he'll be transported to the Metropolitan police department second district," Secret Service spokesman George Oglivie told the BBC.

Democratic US Representative Jim Moran, Virginia, and NAACP President Ben Jealous are also said to have been detained by police.

The 50-year-old Hollywood actor is heavily involved in humanitarian work in the country and set up the charity 'Not On Our Watch' with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle.

Earlier this week, speaking in New York, Clooney attacked the Sudanese government.

“There’s a difference between two armies fighting and what the Geneva Convention calls war crimes,” he said.

“We saw that very specifically happening on two occasions: rape, starvation, lack of humanitarian aid. They’re scaring the hell out of these people and they’re killing, hoping and trying to get them just to leave.”

He was named as the ninth United Nations Messenger of Peace in January 2008 by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Clooney had been "recognized for focusing public attention on crucial international political and social issues".