security council highlighted the need to hold the responsibility to protect, to provide humanitarian assisnce, to allow human rights monitoring, and to ensure accountability. my office is prepared to respond to these needs as a matter of high insurgency. as we meet today, the protesters who assert their right to freedom of assembly have denounced the brutal ways of there's government, challenging their role at great peril to themselves and their families. they have appealed to the united nations and to the international community for protection. we owe them our solidarity and protection from violence. we must keep their aspirations for freedom, dignity, and responsible governance. far from being manipulated by external forces, their protests are a display of people's power and exercise of direct democracy that deserves and commands international respect and support. the international community has repeatedly urged muammar gaddafi 8 to desist from violence, and despite international condemnations and appeals for restraint, the libyan leader chose to foment conflict. he called on his supporters