Five Members of Congress Arrested at Darfur Protest

Five Congress members have been arrested along with three activists on civil disobedience charges during a protest against human rights abuses in Darfur. The five were part of a peaceful demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy when they crossed a police line and refused to leave. The LA Times has it.

The lawmakers -- Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma), John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Donna Edwards (D-Md.) -- were handcuffed by Secret Service officers after crossing the tape and taken to jail by local police officers. Each paid a $100 fine and was released within several hours.

The protestors called on Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir to bring back 16 nongovernmental aid organizations that he expelled last month after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges. The demonstrators say the plight of refugees in Sudan will only get worse without the NGOs on the ground to monitor the situation.