Lethal Weapon star arrested in US

Glover (centre) also protested against the war in Iraq

Lethal Weapon star Danny Glover was arrested on Wednesday outside the Sudan Embassy in Washington during a protest over Sudan's humanitarian crisis.

Glover was speaking to a crowd who were calling for a peacekeeping force to stop violence in western Sudan.

"We want an end to the hostility," said Glover. The actor was later charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, the US Secret Service said.

One million people have fled attacks by pro-government Arab militias in Sudan.

The United Nations has called the situation in Sudan's Dafur region the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

UN figures put the death toll at 50,000, while 1.2 million people have been left homeless.

Closed indefinitely

The Sudanese Embassy in Washington had to shut on Monday after weeks of protests and arrests.

"We must continue to put pressure on the Sudanese government," Glover said before he was handcuffed and led away by the US Secret Service on the steps of the embassy in Washington DC.

"We must continue to demand justice and we must continue to demand peace for the people of Dafur," he added.

Glover has caused controversy in the US before, when he signed a statement criticising American policies towards Cuba and Iraq.

The statement signed by Glover and 159 other people, addressed to The Conscience of the World, appeared in Cuban government newspaper Granma, last year.

It said the Iraq war was an unprovoked, unjustified invasion and there was "a strong campaign of destabilisation" against Cuba that could be used as "a pretext for an invasion".