Sen. Kerry jokes about George Clooney, Democrats' arrest

George Clooney has been released from police custody, but the #FreeClooney hashtag is still going strong on Twitter.

Clooney was arrested Friday outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C., along with several Democratic members of Congress including Reps. James McGovern (Mass.), Jim Moran (Va.), John Olver (Mass.) and Al Green (Texas).

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who met with Clooney earlier in the week to talk about Sudan, joked in a tweet about the incident following reports of the arrest.

I leave you three alone for 5 mins… MT @dbernstein McGovern & Olver reportedly arrested at Sudan embassy. Oh, also George Clooney. #mapoli

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) March 16, 2012

The protest was planned to raise awareness over the humanitarian emergency in the African nation of Sudan, a cause Clooney testified about before the Senate Foreign Relations committee earlier this week. Clooney also met with the president during his visit to the nation’s capital.

The hashtag #FreeClooney immediately began trending following the actor’s arrest.

"Listen, 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, according to E! online. "Our job right now is to try to bring attention to it, and one of those ways was, apparently, get arrested."

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