While the dispute continues to grow in Egypt, where tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on Friday 28 January, around the country calling for the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, the international community comes out very slowly from his silence. The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, spoke on Friday morning, four days after the protests began, which has already killed seven people.
The Secretary-General, who attended the Davos World Economic Forum, called on Egyptian leaders to avoid further violence, asking them to respect the freedoms of assembly and information and to listen to the people. "All those involved - labor and management - must ensure that the situation in this region, including Egypt, does not degenerate into more violence," he said.
A little later in the day, Americans were also very "worried" the situation in the country. Washington has stressed the need to "avoid violence", "respect the rights" and "enable communications. The British Foreign Minister, William Hague, for his part said that the demonstrators had "legitimate reasons for discontent." "I am very concerned about the images from Egypt (...), we call on all parties to exercise restraint," said the chief diplomat of the former colonial power.
"And it is very important that the authorities (...) are able to keep alive the hope for reform. It's like this, rather than repression, which responds to this kind of crisis," Mr Hague continued. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed about it, Friday in Davos, the stability of this country was important, but it could not be maintained at the expense of freedom of expression.
"We must do everything in our power to ensure that violence ceases, so there are no innocent victims," she said at a news conference hastily arranged at the Forum global economy. "It makes no sense to lock up people or reducing access to information. We must reach a peaceful dialogue in Egypt." The side of France, the Foreign Ministry has indeed spoken, but to indicate that four French journalists, Le Figaro, Le Journal du Dimanche, Paris Match and the Sipa photo agency, were arrested during the demonstrations.
They have since been released. The international community has waited several days before to denounce the total cut across the Internet by the Egyptian authorities, a move that was never practiced by any government in the past, with the exception of Burma. The Heads of State and Government have not, in the same way, flinched when Egyptian police prevented Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize and former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, to move freely in Cairo, where he planned to join the procession of protesters.
In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak, also illustrated by its reserves since the protests began. The government press simply asserted Friday that the president "following the situation" and had phoned the Governor of Suez, which were very violent clashes. It was also reported a telephone call from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who expressed his "confidence in the stability of Egypt." 
The Secretary-General, who attended the Davos World Economic Forum, called on Egyptian leaders to avoid further violence, asking them to respect the freedoms of assembly and information and to listen to the people. "All those involved - labor and management - must ensure that the situation in this region, including Egypt, does not degenerate into more violence," he said.
A little later in the day, Americans were also very "worried" the situation in the country. Washington has stressed the need to "avoid violence", "respect the rights" and "enable communications. The British Foreign Minister, William Hague, for his part said that the demonstrators had "legitimate reasons for discontent." "I am very concerned about the images from Egypt (...), we call on all parties to exercise restraint," said the chief diplomat of the former colonial power.
"And it is very important that the authorities (...) are able to keep alive the hope for reform. It's like this, rather than repression, which responds to this kind of crisis," Mr Hague continued. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed about it, Friday in Davos, the stability of this country was important, but it could not be maintained at the expense of freedom of expression.
"We must do everything in our power to ensure that violence ceases, so there are no innocent victims," she said at a news conference hastily arranged at the Forum global economy. "It makes no sense to lock up people or reducing access to information. We must reach a peaceful dialogue in Egypt." The side of France, the Foreign Ministry has indeed spoken, but to indicate that four French journalists, Le Figaro, Le Journal du Dimanche, Paris Match and the Sipa photo agency, were arrested during the demonstrations.
They have since been released. The international community has waited several days before to denounce the total cut across the Internet by the Egyptian authorities, a move that was never practiced by any government in the past, with the exception of Burma. The Heads of State and Government have not, in the same way, flinched when Egyptian police prevented Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize and former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, to move freely in Cairo, where he planned to join the procession of protesters.
In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak, also illustrated by its reserves since the protests began. The government press simply asserted Friday that the president "following the situation" and had phoned the Governor of Suez, which were very violent clashes. It was also reported a telephone call from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who expressed his "confidence in the stability of Egypt."
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