BBC World News, 16 March 2012 Last updated at 12:31 ET
George Clooney, Father & Martin Luther King III arrested at Sudan embassy
BBC's Paul Adams: "This is clearly what George Clooney was expecting"
George Clooney has been arrested for civil disobedience during a demonstration outside Sudan's embassy in Washington DC.
The actor was taking part in a protest to warn of a humanitarian crisis in the volatile border area between Sudan and South Sudan.
His father, Nick, was also detained during the demonstration.
George Clooney is a keen Sudan activist and has made a number of trips to the region.
The Hollywood star, his father and fellow activists were led away in handcuffs after reportedly ignoring repeated police warnings to leave the embassy grounds.
Secret Service spokesman George Oglivie told the BBC: "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."
Also arrested, said Mr Oglivie, were Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights leader; Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern; Virginia Democratic Congressman Jim Moran; and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Ben Jealous.
George Clooney gives evidence to US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Clooney's arrest comes a day after he met President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the Sudan situation.
The actor recently secretly travelled across the border to the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, where his group apparently witnessed a rocket attack.
He told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week that what was happening in the region was "ominously similar" to the violence in Darfur.
The UN estimates that nearly 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million been displaced since the Darfur conflict broke out in 2003.