Germany appealed Friday for the Egyptian leadership to prove its commitment to democratic reform, and to refrain from violence against peaceful demonstrators, DPA reported.
The protesters' disappointment at President Hosny Mubarak's announcement that he would stay on as president was "understandable," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert.
"What Mubarak put into prospect is not enough," Seibert said. He welcomed that the state of emergency would be lifted soon, as well as the president's constitutional concessions.
"But this signal is not enough to satisfy the people in Tahrir Square and elsewhere," the spokesman added.
Seibert expressed "considerable worry" that the authorities might crack down on the protests taking place across Egypt, and issued an "urgent demand" that the security forces "do not proceed violently against peaceful demonstrators."
"The crucial thing is that the path to democracy is truly taken," Seibert said. Germany and the European were prepared to help this process, he added.