ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST – After elections in democracies the losing candidate is supposed to concede: this does not always happen.
What a tumultuous day it was in Washington, DC on January 6. Everyone is still talking about it and what it means. Was it a mob? An insurrection? A coup? An act of terrorism? All of the above? Some combination of the above?
At a minimum, what transpired was a violent challenge to prevent the peaceful handover of power after a democratic election. President Trump refused to accept the November 4 voting results, claimed the election had been ‘stolen’ from him, and exhorted his followers to attack the Senate where President Elect Joe Biden was being confirmed.
The fact that this kind of violent rejection of a valid process took place in the ‘cradle’ of modern democracy is what is so shocking. We have been used to thinking that this kind of attack only takes place in the so-called developing world.
Such as the attack that took place in the Ivory Coast ten years ago.
On this day in 2011
Security forces loyal to that nation’s incumbent leader, who refused to cede power, opened fire on civilians, killing at least four in a neighbourhood known to be his rival’s stronghold. Young men allied with the losing president, Laurent Gbagbo, amassed on the highway, wielding sticks and throwing large objects in the path of UN vehicles which sought to prevent violence.
Our neighbourhood is in their crosshairs ever since the march. We are a target.
Man wounded in the incident
That the gunmen were security personnel tied to the ex-president would make this a form of state-sponsored terrorism. So, by extension, does that make ex-US President Trump a state-sponsored terrorist?
2 replies on “January 11, 2011: Attack in Ivory Coast”
Hey Phil,
I understand you try to make an analogy.
To my knowledge the events of 2011 were disproved at the International Justice Court.
Evidences to link the African President to violence like the Western Medias projected were dismissed.
https://www.ijmonitor.org/2019/07/icc-judges-issue-written-reasons-for-acquittal-in-the-gbagbo-case-what-bensouda-can-do-now/
For the U.S,
Not denying that people have died at the Capitol 4 deaths (incl. 3 of medical conditions) if we look at BLM over summer 20 certainly more than 50 people have died but again it’s a political statement.
Thank you for your comment!