US ambassador to Syria denies accusations of provoking Unrest

US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has denied Damascus accusations that he is trying to provoke unrest in the country. "In no way whatsoever am I an instigator or provocateur. First of all, consistently the United States government has said that it supports the Syrian people''s right to peaceful, non-violent freedom of expression and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. These are rights that are in the United Nations'' Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the Syrian government itself signed," Ford said in an interview with the US National Public Radio (NPR). He added that the leadership of the protest movement is determined to remain peaceful. In an opposition meeting here in Damascus recently, they came out with a communique saying no violence. "The problem is that the Syrian government''s constant use of disproportionate force is, itself, provoking violence and is, itself, in some cases, provoking retaliatory violence," according to Ford.