US President Barack Obama warned Thursday that violence was not the answer to Egypt's political unrest and called on the government and protesters to show restraint.
In his first on-camera reaction to the demonstrations sweeping Egypt, Obama said President Hosni Mubarak had been a very helpful ally to Washington on a host of issues, but said he had frequently pushed the Egyptian leader for political reform.
"Violence is not the answer in solving these problems in Egypt," Obama said in a YouTube question-and-answer session about his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
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"The government has to be careful about not resorting to violence. The people on the streets have to be careful about not resorting to violence."
Obama described the demonstrations as the result of the "pent-up frustrations" of the population in Egypt, and said he had always made clear to Mubarak it was "absolutely critical" for him to move towards political reform.
The US president spoke as protests raged in Egypt for a third straight day, with more mass demonstrations expected after planned Muslim weekly prayers on Friday.
Seven people have been killed and more than 100 injured in the largest uprising in Egypt in three decades. A security official told AFP that around 1,000 people had been arrested.
Earlier, Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs said that the Egyptian government and protesters had an "obligation not to engage in violence," and said demonstrators should not burn government buildings in Egypt.
It was the latest US intervention in the crisis rocking the government of Mubarak, who has been a stalwart and pivotal US ally in the Middle East for decades.
Officials have said that they are not choosing sides between Mubarak and demonstrators, as they walk a fine line between moral support for demands for democracy and try to avoid angering an important regional powerbroker.
Gibbs did not directly answer a question however on whether Obama fully supported Mubarak, but did say that Washington believed the Egyptian strongman's government was "stable."
In Ottawa, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Washington would welcome political and economic change in Arab states witnessing political turmoil.
"We obviously have a number of close friends and allies in the region with whom we work very closely on a wide array of issues, not just in the region but globally," Gates said in the Canadian capital.
"And at the same time the United States has been clear that the human and political rights of people are fundamental and the economic challenges that face many of the people in the Middle East... are important as well.
"We encourage reform across the board that addresses these challenges. And look forward to continuing the work with these governments," he said in response to a question about violent protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
