France, Germany threaten Libya with EU sanctions

PARIS: France and Germany threatened to hit Libya with EU sanctions for Moammar Gadhafi's fierce crackdown on protesters, while the European Union said the violence in Libya could constitute "crimes against humanity" and urged an independent probe into it.

"The continuing brutal and bloody repression against the Libyan civilian population is revolting," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday, raising the possibility of cutting all economic and business ties between the EU and Libya. "The international community cannot remain a spectator to these massive violations of human rights."

The European Union has faced criticism for an initially cautious, measured response to the bloodshed in Libya and in other Arab countries swept up in a wave of popular protests against authoritarian regimes. The bloc's 27 members have disagreed on how hard-hitting a tone to take against Libya, their neighbor across the Mediterranean and a major supplier of their oil.

But by Wednesday, momentum seemed to be building toward a tougher response to strongman Gadhafi, who has vowed to fight to his "last drop of blood."

EU ambassadors were meeting in Brussels to discuss how to proceed. "Tough line to be expected. Good!" wrote Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb on Twitter.

The European Union president, Herman Van Rompuy, said Libya has committed "horrible crimes that are unacceptable and must not remain without consequences."

Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said that "a political leader who has decided to bomb his own citizens has lost all legitimacy to continue leading his country."

The comments came after the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday demanded the violence in Libya stop immediately. Peru suspended diplomatic relations with Libya and was asking the UN Security Council to establish a no-fly zone in Libyan airspace "to prevent the use of that country's warplanes against (its) population."

In a sign of Gadhafi's loosening grip on power, some Libyan diplomats abroad have distanced themselves from him. The embassies in Vienna, in Prague and in Bratislava, Slovakia, all condemned the violence. "Long live free Libya!" said a statement from the Libyan embassy in the Czech capital.

Protesters in Rome charged past police lines to scale the Libyan embassy fence, tear down the country's flag and burn it. About 150 people, nearly all Arabic-speakers, then hoisted Libya's old flag from the monarchy era before Gadhafi's rule.