SYRIAN SECURITY FORCES fired at thousands of protesters on the streets today, killing at least two.

The killings come a day after the United States and its European allies demanded that President Bashar al-Assad step down.

Assad had told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that military and police operations had stopped in the country.

Assad is coming under criticism for his crackdown on the five-month uprising in his country, where human rights groups say that more than 1,800 citizens have been killed.

In a written statement, President Barack Obama said yesterday that Assad has overseen a vicious onslaught of his people as they protest for freedom. It was Obama’s first explicit call for Assad to step down.

Obama said Assad’s calls for reform ring hollow while he is “imprisoning, torturing and slaughtering his own people.”

Obama also signed an executive order that gives his administration authority to impose new sanctions on Syria.

The leaders of France, Britain and Germany issued a statement saying Assad should “leave power in the greater interests of Syria and the unity of his people.”

This is the first time they had explicitly demanded the Syrian leader give up power.

Reuters says that the United States, Britain and European allies will draft a UN Security Council sanctions resolution on Syria.

A UN team is believed to be going to Syria this weekend to assess the humanitarian situation there.

Al Jazeera reports that the UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has asked the Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for the investigation of alleged atrocities against anti-government protesters.

- Additional reporting from AP