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Al-Ahmed and the Observatory's director Rami Abdul-Rahman said pro-regime students armed with knives tried to break up the protest before the security forces raided the dorms. Syria's persistent bloodshed has tarnished efforts by a U.N. team of observers to salvage a truce brokered by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan that started to unravel almost as soon as it was supposed to begin on April 12. The two sides have blamed each other for thwarting the truce, with Assad's forces trying to repress demonstrators calling for him to step down and an armed rebellion that has sprung up as peaceful protests have proved ineffective against his forces. The U.N. says 9,000 people have died since the uprising began in March 2011. Despite the violence, the international community still sees the peace plan as the last chance to prevent Syria from falling into civil war
-- in part because no country wants to intervene militarily. The head of the U.N. observers, Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, visited the central cities of Homs and Hama, where anti-regime sentiment runs high, on Thursday. He said there is still "a good chance and an opportunity" to break the cycle of violence. Reporters accompanying the observers Thursday on the tour interviewed residents who said life was fairly normal during the day but was worrisome at night. "The situation is calm during the day but scary at night," said Maher Jerjous, a 53-year-old resident of the Bab al-Quba district in Hama. "Masked gunmen ... roam the streets. There are kidnappings on public roads. You will not see anyone (on the streets) after six."
[Associated
Press;
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