George Clooney once played Batman -- and on Friday, he was a superhero to many during a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington. Only instead of departing in the Batmobile, he exited while handcuffed in a police car.

Surrounded by people holding signs reading "Stop Bombing Civilians Now!" and "End the silence stop the violence," Clooney told the crowd:

We need humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world [and] for the government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them and stop starving them. That's all we ask.

Police twice ordered the crowd to disperse before Clooney, his father Nick, and several other notables -- including Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous, and Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern, Al Green, Jim Moran and John Olver -- were arrested on the misdemeanor charge of disorderly crossing of a police line. Clooney paid a $100 fine in lieu of a court appearance and was released.

People magazine's two-time Sexiest Man Alive has long been active in his work to bring attention to the crisis in Sudan. He's the co-founder of the Satellite Sentinel Project, which uses satellite imagery to watch for aerial attacks and troop movements in Sudan and South Sudan, and this week he met with President Obama and testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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