Image Source: CNN

BY TATIANA DARIE 

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

George Clooney has been released after being handcuffed and taken away in a police van earlier Friday – and this time it wasn’t for a movie. Fox News has the story…

“George Clooney was arrested this morning. We just got some new video into the newsroom. This is outside the embassy, the Sudan embassy in Washington D.C.”

Clooney was protesting Sudan's efforts to block humanitarian aid from reaching a volatile border region where its army is fighting rebels aligned with South Sudan. He told a crowd specifically why he was there. CBS has the video.

CLOONEY: “We are here really to ask two simple questions. The first question is something immediate. And immediately we need humanitarian aid is to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Immediately.”

The 50-year-old actor was with his father Nick Clooney and a number of other high-profile protesters like Martin Luther King III. They were all arrested for ignoring three separate warning by the police to leave the embassy area. BBC’s Paul Adams says the arrest came as no surprise for Clooney ...

“This clearly was what George Clooney was expecting and wanted to happen. We knew that he and some politicians and others were heading to the Sudanese embassy to mount this protest, to try and focus public attention…"

And the eyes of the media were indeed on the Hollywood actor. One contributor told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell says…

“...to using the celebrity culture, to benefit and take on a serious issue that needs a light show on it...I guarantee if George Clooney was not there, there would be no way near that level of interest or attention…”

CNN blogger Mark Leon Goldberg calls on people to appreciate the actor’s efforts…

“George and the others got themselves sent to the slammer to draw attention to this very urgent humanitarian emergency.  Hopefully, people will take notice of the underlying reason why Clooney is spending his Friday afternoon in a DC jail cell.”

But a Telegraph blogger is skeptical, saying Clooney’s campaign might be drowning out others’ voices.

“…it is dangerous that Clooney's will be the only voice that is heard. There are many Sudan experts who argue for a more sophisticated approach, but they don't have Oscars and certainly cannot expect an audience with Barack Obama any time soon.”

American officials estimate that some 500,000 civilians in the region are being deprived of food, medicine and other necessities provided by international aid organizations.