Perhaps he's a devotee of King Leopold.
King Leopold was a criminal butcher. Being Scottish I may have an affinity for things French.
I have been following this thread with some interest. I am hesitant to pass judgement, not because I don't believe the French did not fire into the crowd. They are clearly shooting at the crowd. However, we don't know what triggered the shooting. Having seen, and been involved in, many of these types of protests in Africa, they normally start of peacefully, but the protesters get more daring and angry as time goes on, until the situation is on edge. It's also clear from the video there were some ground rules, i.e. don't cross the wall in front of the soldiers. From other reports there were widespread looting, hacking off limbs with machetes, killing of civilians etc. I can't tell from the video who or what the protesters are, if they are from the same groups who was responsible for that, what the French were protecting, where the crowd was going and what their intent was. They don't seem to be armed, but there are Ivorian soldiers walking among them that are. In such a volatile situation, all it would take is one of those guys to shoot his rifle in the air, or someone to throw somthing at the French, and it will trigger a response from the French. Remember, they are there protecting whatever is behind them, and will shoot at any real or perceived threat. Also, I don't think they have been in that situation before, facing a loud protest from a numerically superior group, which I can tell you, is very intimidating.
So, all of that leaves me unsure. It is extremely unnecessary and sad for civilians to be shot in this manner, and it is sad that the French soldiers were put in a position where they did it. We have to also consider the overall climate in IC at the moment, the fact that in the French minds the "same" people just killed 9 of their soldiers, and the Ivorians thinking that the French just destroyed their ability to strike the rebels. Civil wars are ugly.