Geneva:
The UN Security Council on Tuesday held emergency consultations on the Libyan crisis with Western nations pressing for "swift and clear" action.
Libyan diplomats who have broken with strongman leader Muammar Gaddafi and demanded the meeting have called for a UN no-fly zone over the country and humanitarian action.
But the talks by the 15-nation council decided only to hold a formal meeting on the crisis later in the day. Diplomats said a statement could be released after.
"The scale of violence by the Libyan security forces against peaceful demonstrators is really shocking," Germany's UN Ambassador Peter Wittig said.
"It has regional and international implications. That is why we think it is a case for the Security Council and the council should act with a swift and clear message," Wittig told reporters going into the meeting.
Ibrahim Dabbashi, the Libyan deputy ambassador who has called for Gaddafi to stand down and sent the letter demanding Tuesday's meeting, said "we are expecting something to protect the Libyan people" to be decided by the council.
Dabbashi's letter demanded that the UN order a no-fly zone over Libya and for a humanitarian corridor to get supplies to civilians. But diplomats said no action has yet been discussed.
Libya's main ambassador, Mohamed Shalgham, turned up at the Security Council late in the meeting creating some doubts about who was really representing the country.
Shalgham, who described himself as a childhood friend of Gaddafi, said he had just returned from meetings in Libya. He did not support all of the actions of his deputy but he said he had told government leaders that "violence must stop."
It was not immediately clear whether Dabbashi or Shalgham would represent Libya at the formal meeting.
It is the first time the council has discussed the turmoil sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.
"This is clearly a different case from what we have seen in Egypt and Tunisia because of the scale of the violence and the use of mercenaries," said one diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Even though China and Russia traditionally oppose interference in the internal affairs of a country, "there was a general recognition that it is now a very serious situation and the violence has reached a shocking level," said another diplomat who attended the meeting.
Diplomats from several Western nations said they would press at least for a UN statement that condemns the use of violence against Libyan civilians and calls for the protection of foreign nationals in the country.
Some human rights groups have said up to 400 people have been killed in the Libyan violence in which warplanes have carried out air strikes on demonstrators.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he was "outraged" at the reports of air attacks. He spoke with Gaddafi on Monday and demanded an immediate halt to the violence.