UPDATE, 2:30 p.m. ET: George Clooney, his father, Nick, and other activists who were arrested at the Sudanese embassy in Washington on Friday were released from jail the same afternoon.
Clooney spoke to reporters about the arrest, saying, "You never know if you are accomplishing anything. ... We hope it helps."
He went on to say, "There really is a ticking clock on (the situation)," and expressed hope that food and aid would come to the starving people of Sudan before their devastating rainy season begins.
Asked about the conditions in jail, the actor joked, "It was rough, you can imagine." He said the men were all put in the same cell and paid a fine before being released.
The actor said the incident was his first-ever arrest. "Let's hope it's my last," he added.
One reporter asked how Clooney's girlfriend, actress and former pro wrestler Stacy Keibler, would react to the arrest. "She's probably thrilled," Clooney deadpanned.
Win Mcnamee / Getty ImagesPlastic handcuffs were used on actor George Clooney, who was arrested Friday for a protest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington.
Clooney's father, journalist Nick Clooney, 78, was with him and was also arrested, as were Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Rep Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and former Rep. Tom Andrews (D-Mass.). The group was handcuffed with plastic handcuffs and were taken away by police.
Speaking before the large crowd that gathered to watch the protest, Clooney said "we need immediate humanitarian aid into Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world."
He went on to say that the group wanted "the (Sudanese) government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them, and stop starving them."
Half
a million people in Sudan's Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions risk
starvation due to the blockage of supplies, and the coming rainy season
will only make it worse, the actor told the crowd.
"It’s about to start raining, and once it starts raining there, thousands of people are going to die," Clooney said.Because the embassy is private property, Clooney and colleagues knew that refusing to move would end in arrest. They were warned three times before police moved in to make the arrests.
The group held a sign that read "Sudan: Stop Weapons of Mass Starvation."
He later told reporters that "people turn on the news and see an awful lot of bad stories," but added that the United States "is still the most generous country in the world and truly the most compassionate."
On Wednesday, Clooney appeared on TODAY with Ann Curry and discussed how he came under rocket fire in the Sudan on a recent trip there.
He also attended Wednesday night's White House State Dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Clooney is expected to appear on msnbc's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" later on Friday.
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