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00:00No official commemoration for the anniversary.
00:03Only a few members of a collective for victims
00:05gathered to lay a wreath and pray in front of Hôtel Ivoire,
00:09where protesters were killed.
00:1020 years on, they want to relaunch legal proceedings.
00:16We're bringing a complaint against France
00:17for crimes against humanity.
00:19We tried to favour the diplomatic routes,
00:22but unfortunately we've achieved nothing
00:24and the time has come for us to take responsibility
00:27and lead the battle for our compensation.
00:31On the 9th of November 2004,
00:33tensions reached a boiling point in Abidjan.
00:36French soldiers were stationed in front of the Hôtel Ivoire
00:39with armed vehicles to protect the 200 French nationals
00:42who were staying inside.
00:43Facing them, thousands of demonstrators refused to leave,
00:46convinced that France wanted to overthrow
00:48President Laurent Gbagbo,
00:50whose residence was only a few hundred metres away.
00:52After a standoff that lasted hours,
00:54soldiers fired into the crowd.
00:56French authorities acknowledged that there were casualties,
00:59but haven't disclosed figures.
01:00The victims' collective estimates 57 Ivoirians lost their lives
01:04and more than 1,000 were injured that day.
01:07Claude Soudur was shot, leading him to contract gangrene
01:10and his leg was amputated.
01:13We could hear, lie down,
01:16and that's when I was shot from the top of the Hôtel Ivoire.
01:21I came to defend the cause of my country
01:24and today, I find myself with one leg.
01:28Every night, I feel pain.
01:30Every night, I relive that situation.
01:34Initially calling it return fire,
01:36Paris eventually admitted that it was dissuasion fire,
01:39citing that the military forces securing the Hôtel Ivoire
01:42had been overwhelmed by the crowd.
01:43It was the result of four days of escalations.
01:46On the 6th of November,
01:47two Ivoirian aircraft bombed the French military base at Bouaké,
01:51killing nine French soldiers.
01:53Paris retaliated within the hour,
01:55destroying the entire Ivoirian air fleet.
01:58Anger swept through the streets of Abidjan
02:00and some French expats were attacked.
02:02Their evacuation was organised as a matter of urgency.
02:05Neither Paris nor Abidjan has made any statement
02:08commemorating the anniversary of this tragedy.