Over the past day, actor George Clooney has been arrested, then released, for protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC.
   Clooney was highlighting the killing of civilians in Sudan and the Sudanese government’s blocking of humanitarian aid to the Nuba Mountains.
   He had crossed a police line after three warnings. Also arrested were Clooney’s father Nick, and Democratic Rep. Jim Moran. Each was released after paying a US$100 fine.
   At the press conference after their release, Clooney said, ‘The real danger is, of course, there are people dying every day there and a pretty decent number. There were 34 people killed in a month and a half there in one village alone, and about 500 people injured. That’s from random bombing of civilians. These are not military targets at all …
   ‘They’re trying to choke these people out and get them to leave. It’s their land they’ve lived on. It’s the oldest society in the world. They’ve lived there a long, long time. They are not leaving their land, they’re hiding in caves … In the meantime, they’ve been unable to farm their land …
   ‘Best estimates are tens of thousands of people are going to die from starvation that is man-made. This isn’t a famine. This is a man-made tragedy by the governor of Khartoum to get these people to leave.’