Women protesters shot down

Hundreds of people gather as they wait at a safe distance after security forces loyal to strongman president Laurent Gbagbo fired to disperse women protesting for a peaceful solution to the nation's ongoing political crisis. Photo / AP

Soldiers backing Ivory Coast's defiant leader mowed down women protesting over his refusal to leave power in a hail of gunfire yesterday, killing at least six and shocking a nation where women's marches have historically been used as a last resort against an unrestrained army.

Because the president's security force has shown almost no reserve in opening fire on unarmed civilians, the women decided this week to organise the march in the nation's commercial capital, assuming soldiers would be too ashamed to open fire. But at least six of the thousands of women demonstrating were killed on the spot, said Mohamed Dosso, an assistant to the mayor of Abobo who said he saw the bodies.

The regime of Laurent Gbagbo is proving it is willing to go to any length to stay in office after an election that international observers say he lost to Alassane Ouattara.