HOLLYWOOD ACTOR and director George Clooney has been arrested alongside other protesters including his father at a demonstration outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC.

The protest called for action to avert a humanitarian crisis along the border between Sudan and South Sudan.

Activists are accusing Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir of escalating the crisis along the volatile border by blocking the provision of food and aid.

Clooney started the Not on Our Watch charity along with his Oceans Eleven co-stars Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle. The group says it aims to develop advocacy campaigns to bring global attention to international crises and give voice to their victims by drawing on “figures with uniquely powerful voices”.

Thousands of people have fled to South Sudan in an effort to escape ongoing violence in Sudan. The Irish aid organisation GOAL is involved in providing humanitarian assistance to the thousands of refugees fleeing violence and it was recently allocated €200,000 by the Department of Foreign Affairs for its efforts in the area.

The United Nations estimates that around 300,000 people have died since fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003. Over 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes. Teams from the UN and from Norwegian People’s Aid are currently working to demine an area of South Sudan that was mined during the civil war of the 80s and 90s.

Clooney has made a number of trips to Sudan and met with President Obama yesterday to discuss the situation, according to the BBC.