By IRNA,
London : The leaders of the British, French, German, Italian and Spanish governments issued an unprecedented statement Thursday calling for a ‘quick” transition in Egyptian but stop short in calling for President Hosni Mubarak to resign.
“We are watching with utmost concern the deteriorating situation in Egypt. The Egyptian people must be able to exercise freely their right to peaceful assembly, and enjoy the full protection of the security forces,” their joint statement said.
“Attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable. We condemn all those who use or encourage violence, which will only aggravate the political crisis in Egypt,” it warned.
“Only a quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government will make it possible to overcome the challenges Egypt is now facing. That transition process must start now.”
The call comes as Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq appeared to apologise for allowing counter-revolutionaries to attack protesters on Wednesday, resulting in at least five people being killed and more than 800 injured.
Shafiq pledged to investigate the violence, calling it a ‘fatal error’.
Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron joined French and German counterparts in calling on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to “avoid at all costs the use of violence against unarmed civilians, and on the demonstrators to exercise their rights peacefully.”
“We urge President Mubarak to embark on a process of transformation which should be reflected in a broad-based government and in free and fair elections,’ the three leaders said.
Since then, Mubarak has pledged not to stand for re-election in September and to start democratic reforms, but this was rejected by protesters continuing to stage huge demonstrations across the country.