JOIN US"The United States remains very concerned about the violence in Egypt.
We condemn the excessive force used by the police, and we strongly urge the Egyptian Government to exercise maximum restraint, to discipline its forces, and to protect the universal rights of all Egyptians to peacefully express themselves," the State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters yesterday at a news conference.
While all parties in Egypt need to remain committed to nonviolence, the US believes that the Egyptian Government has a particular responsibility to restrain security forces and to allow the Egyptian people to peacefully express themselves, she noted in response to questions in this regard.
Nuland also referred to the announcements made by the top Egyptian military leader General Tantawi in which he said that the Egyptian military intends to hand power back to civilians and expects that the electoral process and the handing back of power to civilians will be completed before July 2012.
"So with regard to your precise question about the government stepping down, we are looking forward to the naming of a new Egyptian government.
That government's first responsibility will obviously be to organise and ensure that free and fair elections do move forward in a peaceful environment to allow for the credible transition to democracy that the Egyptian people want," Nuland said.
The spokesperson confirmed that three US citizens in detention in connection with the protests.
"We have made clear from the beginning that we stand with the Egyptian people in their aspiration for a full democratic transition. We have wanted that to proceed peacefully, transparently and quickly " she said.
"So we have reassurances now from military authorities again that that is their intention and that gives us a basis to, going forward, hold them to what they've committed to the Egyptian people.
But of course, first and foremost, the Egyptian people will have the same expectations of the governing authorities," Nuland said.