"We are watching with utmost concern the deteriorating situation in Egypt," the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, Spain and Italy said in a statement released Thursday.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the prime minister of Spain and Italy, Jose Luis Zapatero and Silvio Berlusconi called on Egyptian authorities to protect protesters and journalists and immediately launch a political transition toward more democracy.

"The Egyptian people must be able to exercise freely their right to peaceful assembly, and enjoy the full protection of the security forces," the statement said. "We condemn all those who use or encourage violence, which will only aggravate the political crisis in Egypt. Only a quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government will make it possible to overcome the challenges Egypt is now facing.

The transition process, the statement added, "must start now."

At least eight people have been killed over the past two days and several hundred injured as protests against the regime turned ugly when Mubarak supporters on Wednesday started attacking demonstrators. The military, hoped to be an honest broker between both sides, failed to quell the violence.

Fighting continued Thursday but it became less fierce as the military stepped up its efforts to keep both sides from clashing.

Europe has been watching the events in Egypt with increasing concern.

Western leaders want more democracy for the African country but are worried that Egypt could descend into chaos and turn into a security threat without a government -- or the wrong one.

That's why European officials had in the past called for restraint and more reforms but stopped short of urging Mubarak to step down.

The violent clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters in Cairo, which continued for a second day Thursday, seem to have been a watershed point.

Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, Thursday said Europe was trying to defuse the situation.

"Last night we were sending messages to the Egyptian authorities in phone calls and other messages, saying 'look, you have to get the army in to protect the people, you have to make sure that we've got ambulances able to get in and out of the square,'" she told Britain's Sky News television. "The scenes last night were extremely disturbing."

Europe has now decided to up the pressure on Mubarak to step down now and not in September, as he has pledged during Wednesday's TV address.

earlier related report
Army must bring order before Egypt can change: ICG
Nicosia (AFP) Feb 3, 2011 - Egypt's armed forces must come off the fence and start restoring order before the nation can embark on political change, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said on Thursday.

In a statement on the ongoing turmoil, the Brussels-based ICG noted how the military stood by on Wednesday when "a significant number of regime loyalists ... engaged in organised attacks" on what had been peaceful protesters.

"It is perhaps the last public institution with broad national legitimacy and is likely to play a crucial role in ensuring a stable transition," it said. "Neither it nor Egypt can afford the military's legitimacy to be tarnished."

"Egypt's leadership should issue orders to all security forces -- including the military -- to act in a manner consistent with their responsibility to safeguard public order while protecting citizens' legitimate rights to peaceful protest."

Once that is done, it said, negotiations can begin towards a national unity government, free and fair elections later this year, and extensive reforms that would see the long-standing Emergency Law replaced with legislation "that confirms to international norms."

On the deadlock between Hosni Mubarak's regime, which wants protests to stop before talks can begin, and the protest movement, which wants Mubarak to go first, the ICG said the deadlock makes it hard to imagine any peaceful transition with the president still in power.

"Overcoming this obstacle will be difficult and could well require flexibility on both sides," it said.

"For now, however, the most important task is for security forces to live up to their responsibility and obligation to prevent any further loss of life or destruction of property while upholding Egyptians' rights to peaceful protest."

In a similar vein, Amr Hamzawy of the Carnegie Middle East Centre said that step one "would be to delegate the army to protect public and private installations and guarantee citizens' security ... and assuring their right to collective peaceful expression of opinion."

Once that is done, he wrote, Mubarak must commit to not seeking re-election. "Mr Mubarak has ruled for five consecutive presidential terms," he said, "and the time has come for change in Egypt's highest post."

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