Syria: Russia And China Veto UN Resolution

A UN Security Council resolution over ongoing violence in Syria has been vetoed by Russia and China.

The vote - which came as angry crowds of protesters attempted to storm the Syrian embassy in London - saw all the other 13 council members, including the UK, US and France, support the resolution.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the veto and revealed he wanted to create a 'Friends of Syria' group that would seek a solution to the crisis.

American ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the US was "disgusted" by the latest developments.

She added that any further bloodshed in Syria would be "on the hands" of those countries which had failed to support efforts to end the killings.

And UK ambassador to the UN Lyall Grant insisted every effort had been made to ease Russian and Chinese misgivings over the wording of the resolution.

"There was nothing in this text that should have triggered a veto," he said.

"We removed every possible excuse. The reality is that Russia and China have today taken a choice to turn their backs on the Arab world and to support tyranny rather than the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

He also echoed the US in highlighting the escalation in the death toll in Syria since a previous resolution was blocked by Russia and China.

And Mr Grant said he was surprised that China had blocked the latest resolution as the country's diplomats had not raised any problems with its wording during negotiations.

The UK had earlier joined increasing condemnation of Syrian security forces' shelling in the city of Homs overnight on Friday - thought to have killed around 350 people.

But despite the failure to find consensus ahead of the vote, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "absolutely" ruled out military action.

An Arab League plan has called for President Bashar Assad to stand down and Russia's main objection to a draft resolution was that it contained measures against the leader, but not against armed groups opposing him.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who will fly to Syria to meet President Assad on Tuesday, had indicated a consensus was possible on the UN resolution.

"If our colleagues adopt a constructive position we will obtain a collective position of the Security Council to which all countries will sign up without exception," he was quoted as saying after returning to Moscow from the Munich Security Conference.

He had previously warned: "Unless you do it both ways, you are taking sides in a civil war."

It comes after missiles were hurled and windows broken as demonstrators burst through barriers erected by police outside London's Syrian embassy.

Police had been heavily outnumbered before reinforcements arrived and Sky News' Katie Stallard, reporting from the scene, said extra officers were brought in to regain control.

"Police are now here in large numbers," she said.

"Two separate groups of officers have driven their vehicles between the protesters and the embassy building. They are pushing protesters back across the road."

The skirmishes outside London's Syrian embassy followed six arrests there overnight.

Metropolitan Police said five of those arrests were on suspicion of breaking and entering, while the sixth was for alleged assault.

Meanwhile, Tunisia has begun the process of withdrawing its recognition of the Syrian regime, by expelling the country's ambassador.