Clinton Calls For Calm, Restraint In Egypt

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the Egyptian government on Wednesday not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications, including social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as anti-government demonstrations continued.

Mass protests spreading this week give Egyptian authorities an "important opportunity" to enact broad reforms, Clinton said as the Obama administration sharpened its response to the widening demands for change.

"We call on all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from violence," she told reporters at the State Department. "We support the universal right of the Egyptian people, including the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly. We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests nor block communications, including on social media sites."

"We believe strongly that the Egypt government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms that respond to legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people," she said at a news conference with visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

Clinton spoke as anti-government protests continued against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's three decades in office. Egyptian authorities cracked down on crowds.

The protests were inspired by the ouster of another longtime leader in nearby Tunisia two weeks ago.

Egypt is the bulwark of U.S. influence in the Middle East, an economically impoverished but politically powerful intermediary in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and beyond.

The United States has urged peaceful political evolution in Egypt for years but has tolerated routine police, judicial and human rights abuses there.

Jordan similarly is vital to U.S. interests. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states to make peace with Israel, and both nations cooperate with U.S. diplomatically and with intelligence-gathering in the region.