Machete-waving mobs sought revenge against French targets. With armored vehicles and helicopter gunships deployed, France used tear gas and concussion grenades to quell the mobs.
Residents on Monday assessed the damage to a skyscraper-lined city that once was West Africa's most prosperous thanks to Ivory Coast's position as the world's top cocoa producer.
"Everything is burned," said one woman, a teacher at a French school that was looted and torched in the anti-French riots.
"They have stolen everything they could. They even tore out the toilet seat," she said on condition her name not be used. "The only thing I'm waiting for is for the airport to open, so I can get out of here."
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