At least 10 people were killed and hundreds wounded in a clash involving French troops, protesters and local security forces in Cote d'Ivoire city Abidjan on Tuesday.  

The clash took place as thousands of protesters massed outside the home of President Laurent Gbagbo, next to a hotel that the French have converted into a temporary evacuation center.

Protesters threatened to form a "human shield" round Gbagbo's home in a plush residential district in case French soldiers, who have taken over the nearby Hotel Ivoire complex, moved towards the residence.

Gbagbo appealed on Sunday for an end to the anti-French mob violence that erupted after France destroyed most of the former French colony's small air force, in retaliation for the killing of nine French peacekeepers.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2004)