NEW YORK: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Tuesday for a negotiated end to the standoff in Honduras between deposed president Manuel Zelaya, who is holed up in Brazil's embassy, and the de facto authorities.

Lula, speaking in New York, said a "negotiated and democratic solution" must be found. He also urged Zelaya to "be very careful not to allow any pretext for the coup plotters to resort to violence."

Lula reiterated Brazil's complete support for Zelaya and said he had spoken to him earlier Monday after Honduran soldiers expelled crowds of the fugitive president's supporters from around the embassy.

The Brazilian president said Honduras "is in a state of siege and the airport is closed."

He warned the opposition forces from trying to enter the embassy and castigated them for what he termed an old-fashioned Latin American coup

"We no longer have the problems of the '60s and we can't accept that someone decides he can depose a democratically elected president because of political differences," Lula said. "If you don't like it, then change through an election."

"The normal thing that should happen is that the coup plotters make way for someone who has the right to be there -- that is the democratically elected president."

In the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa masked soldiers used truncheons and tear gas to break up a demonstration by about 4,000 pro-Zelaya demonstrators, then encircled the embassy compound.

The tension came despite US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call for calm.