A man holds up a sign during a demonstration calling for the ouster of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in front of the Libyan embassy in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday Feb. 20, 2011. The crackdown of anti-government protests in Libya continued Sunday as, according to witnesses Libyan forces fired machine-guns at mourners marching in a funeral for anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press
PARIS – The United States and the European Union vowed Wednesday to consider sanctions against Libya for Moammar Gadhafi’s fierce crackdown on protesters, with the EU calling the attacks possible “crimes against humanity.”
“The continuing brutal and bloody repression against the Libyan civilian population is revolting,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement Wednesday, raising the possibility of cutting off all economic and business ties between the EU and Libya. “The international community cannot remain a spectator to these massive violations of human rights.”
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney also condemned the attacks.
“The violence is abhorrent, it is completely unacceptable and the bloodshed must stop,” Carney said.