French troops in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan fired into the air today to disperse thousands of demonstrators massing to support the West African country's President Laurent Gbagbo.
State radio urged protesters to form a "human shield" to protect Gbagbo's home in a plush residential district in case French troops, who have taken over a hotel complex nearby, tried to move toward the residence.
"We are asking our patriots to go and join the others at the Hotel Ivoire ... We are asking for French tanks to go back to their base," firebrand pro-Gbagbo youth leader Charles Ble Goude said on state radio, shortly after the shooting.
Gbagbo, leader of the world's biggest cocoa producer, has appealed for an end to the mob violence which erupted after France destroyed most of the country's air force in retaliation for the killing of nine French peacekeepers.
The price of cocoa for December delivery rose sharply in London on Monday by up to 11 percent because of the unrest.
France should withdraw its armored vehicles from Abidjan to ease tension, a Gbagbo aide said. "The tension will ease when the French tanks are back with the 43rd (Marines regiment)," said Toussaint Alain.
A truck bristling with so-called "Young Patriots" could be seen racing to the scene where French armored vehicles were parked in front of the hotel, surrounded by barbed wire.
A French military source told Reuters French troops might later secure Gbagbo's residence. He said French and Ivorian military officials would make a significant declaration in the afternoon.
"They are trying to stage a coup d'etat against Ivory Coast. We are opposed. We are all going to the head of state's residence to form a barricade," said a demonstrator called Thierry. "We are demonstrating with our bare hands."
French President Jacques Chirac said in a speech that France was Ivory Coast's ally and urged national reconciliation after anti-French crowd violence erupted at the weekend.
A French army source said military vehicles were in the car park of the hotel to "secure the zone." A French convoy of at least 30 vehicles was seen heading toward the hotel earlier.