French fired 'without warning' (Mounting evidence of a war crime in Ivory Coast)

News24.com ^ | Nov 28 2004 | Elmarie Jack

[Trippin]

Abidjan - French troops fired "directly" at the crowd without warning during an anti-French rally outside an Abidjan hotel earlier this month, an Ivorian police colonel charged on Sunday.

Georges Guiai Bi Poin, commander of the Abidjan police academy, who was in charge of about 60 police officers on duty outside the Ivoire hotel to stop demonstrators from storming the building, told AFP that "French troops fired directly into the crowd.

"They opened fire on the orders of their chief, colonel D'Estremon. Without warning."

Throughout the night Guiai Bi Poin was at colonel D'Estremon's side in the hotel lobby.

Almost three weeks after the shooting, it still remains unclear what exactly happened during the protest and how many people died and were wounded.

Ivorian authorities have said that 57 civilians were killed and that more than 2 200 people were wounded between November 6 and 10, including an unconfirmed number by French troops, but they never released a toll of the specific Ivoire incident which took place on November 9.

The colonel spoke after an Ivorian lawyer told AFP earlier in the day that Ivory Coast would take France to the world court in The Hague on Monday for violating bilateral defence accords after French forces destroyed Ivorian military aircraft.

France destroyed the small Ivorian air force early this month after a government air strike killed nine French peacekeepers and a US aid worker.

The French retaliation unleashed a torrent of anti-foreigner violence and vandalism and prompted the exodus of well over half of the 14 000-strong French expatriate population from Ivory Coast.

[Ginifer]

"Almost three weeks after the shooting, it still remains unclear what exactly happened during the protest and how many people died and were wounded."

There is video that shows what happened. I saw it after a FReeper posted it.

[Mike Darancette]

What's the problem, the crowd was anti-French and not even white. \sarcasm

[festus]

French Fried without Warning ?!

Thats series.

[DustyMoment]

Clearly, this cannot be true and must be part ofan organized anti-France propaganda campaign by the Bush Administration.

After all, the French invented diplomacy and would not take this kind of action without the approval of the UN.

Chirac and Villepin both told us so.

[Diogenesis]

France can and will murder anyone anywhere anytime, n'est pas?

Even the Rainbow Warrior was fair game to the French murderers
in love with terrorists around the world.

FLASHBACK:

"On February 29, 1704, a party of French and Indian raiders
descended on the Massachusetts village of Deerfield, killing fifty residents and
capturing more than a hundred others. A force of more
than two hundred Frenchmen, Abenakis, Hurons, Kahnawake Mohawks,
Pennacooks, and Iroquois of the Mountain overran
the northwesternmost village of the New England frontier.
The attackers took 112 men, women, and children captive.
The book Captors and Captives: The 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield (Native
Americans of the Northeast) by Evan Haefeli, Kevin Sweeney
follows the raiders and their prisoners on the harsh
three-hundred-mile trek back to Canada and into French and Native communities."

---

=========== French missiles given to Iraq to be USED Against US and Coalition Heroes
to murder them (without UN approval) in the French way =========

French missiles found by the Poles, and to protect France, blown up.

Froggies said they did not say "2003". LOL. Decide for yourself.

[ARCADIA]

Lets see if the French want to warm up the World Court with a few of their own.

[CriticalJ]

Does anyone see the problem with this. By saying that the crowd was anti-French, there is an unsaid implication that there are pro-French people somewhere. Since there are no pro-French crowds anywhere besides France and John Kerry's house, the statement is bunk.

:)

[Doe Eyes]

There is video that shows what happened. I saw it after a FReeper posted it.

I watched part of that tape, but not the whole thing. I saw a lot of injured people, but did not see the French firing upon anyone. Was there footage of French soldiers shooting civilians?

[TheConservativeCitizen]

A French soldier stands near a dead Ivorian youth in front of the 43rd BIMA French military base in Port Bouet, Abidjan, November 7, 2004. Hundreds of demonstrators faced off with French troops in Abidjan on Monday after state radio urged protesters to form a 'human shield' to protect the house of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. Picture taken November 7, 2004.

[DmBarch]

No blood for coffee, cocoa beans, and palm oil!!

[festus]

Besides I'm anti french and I hardly think thats reason enough to open fire on me.......

[Ginifer]

After the woman with umbrella and you see the buildings in the back...watch the tanks closely and you can see them fire and people beginning to scream. Then later on you can see the French firing on them again. Look at the images in the background without concentrating on the front...then you can see the gunpowder coming from the tanks and rifles.

http://radioci.embaci.com/englishdownload/frenchsoldiersshootingcivilians2.mpg

[hosepipe]

Looks like a quagmire to me....

[Casloy]

French Fried without Warning ?! Thats series.

And hugh.

[Trippin]

"Was there footage of French soldiers shooting civilians?"

There is no doubt the French soldiers fired on the civilians. What is not clear, is if they had a valid reason to do so. As more details emerge, it's starting to look like, at the very least, it was a massive over-reaction on the part of the French and, at worst, an outright war crime.

What is astonishing though, is how little coverage this incident has received. Most of the dead were unarmed women. At the VERY LEAST, there has to be a public inquiry into this matter, but perversely, nobody seems to care.

I wish Condi Rice would bring this issue to the fore. it's about time someone holds the French to account.

[KwasiOwusu]

Where is that French Canadian HO that works for the United Nations human rights outfit, who came out very quickly last week to accuse America of war crimes , over the shooting of that Iraqi terrorist vermin now?
No surprise the UN is increasingly considered as an irrelevant joke.

[festus]

Looks like a quagmire to me....

Shoulda turned it over to the UN and their Allies.....

Does John Kerry have a plan for this ?

Did you know John Kerry was in Vietnam ? ( I miss saying that every 3rd post like I used to be able to do before November.... ;-)

[Cicero]

1. The French went into the Ivory Coast on the pretence of peacekeeping.

2. Instead of helping the Christian government, they decided to help the Muslim invaders and rebels.

3. The Ivoirean government air force bombed a Muslim rebel stronghold, as they had every right to do in self defense, and accidentally killed some French troops, who were probably there helping the rebels.

4. The French were furious. They retaliated by bombing the capital and destroying the Ivoirean air force.

5. Citizens understandably were angry at the French for attacking their government and for putting them at risk of being killed or enslaved by Muslim invaders. Africa has seen a long history of Christian blacks being killed and enslaved by Muslims.

6. The French fired on the crowd, killing large numbers of civilians. I can well believe that they did it without any warning. They probably looked down on the natives for not being French, and didn't consider they deserved a warning.

7. The French are bullies. They run from anyone stronger than they are, but they feed by killing people weaker than they are who cannot retaliate.

We should, indeed, get involved, at least on the diplomatic level. France committed numerous war crimes in the Ivory Coast. We should help see that they are punished for their crimes. It is very much in our interest to see that African Christians are protected against Islamic murderers, who are trying to take over the continent and, if they succeeded, would represent a major threat to civilization.

France has also been running amok in the Congo, where they continue to behave like greedy colonial exploiters.

[hosepipe]

[ Did you know John Kerry was in Vietnam ? ]

GET OUT..(pushing like Elaine on Seinfeld)..