George Clooney Arrested: Actor Released From Jail After Protesting At Sudanese Embassy

Actor George Clooney was released from jail Friday afternoon several hours after he was arrested for allegedly protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington.

Clooney was protesting the current humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and accused the country's president Omar al-Bashir of blocking food aid to regions along its border with South Sudan, where clashes are still occurring between the Sudanese military and southern rebel fighters following South Sudan's official separation from the north in July 2011.

What we've been trying to achieve today is we're trying to bring attention to an ongoing emergency, Clooney told reporters after his release, CBS News reported. Our job right now is to try to bring attention to it, and one of those ways was, apparently, [to] get arrested.

We hope people understand there really is a ticking clock on this and we need to get moving, he added. There's been amazing progress at times. There've been some great strides, but on the other hand, there's an awful lot that's still going on.

Clooney was arrested Friday after refusing to back away from the steps of the embassy, along with his father, Nick Clooney, 78, and several congressional Democrats and civil rights leaders, including, Massachusetts Reps. David McGovern and John Olver, Virginia Rep. Jim Moran, Rep., Texas Rep. Al Green, Martin Luther King III and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

Following his release, Clooney made light of his arrest, commenting on being placed in a single holding cell with the men mentioned above.

It was really rough, you can imagine, he said, CBS News reported. Have you ever been in a cell with these guys?

It was the actor's first time being arrested, And I hope it's my last, he added.

Prior to his arrest, Clooney seemed to expect the incident, telling NBC's Andrea Mitchell, It's actually a humiliating thing to be arrested no matter what you do, but I'm proud to be standing here with my father.

He went on to say, When people ask you, 'Where were you and where did you stand?' I want to say I was standing on the right side of history.