Heavily armed security forces fired tear gas at a crowd of nearly 1,000 people demonstrating outside the main French military base. Police also set up road blocks in the area.

Some activists responded by throwing rocks and setting small fires outside the base.

The demonstrations were organized by student leader, Charles Ble Goude, head of the hardline pro-government group "Young Patriots," in defiance of a government ban on protests.

He says he called for peaceful protests to ask French troops to abandon ceasefire lines separating rebels and the government in the south. The youths are calling for a return to war against northern-based rebels.

The French government has said it will not leave Ivory Coast.

Although the civil war is over, tensions over a stalled peace deal are high. Rebels have refused to disarm and, in September, pulled out of the post-war powersharing government. They say President Gbagbo has failed to abide by the French-brokered accord.

Fears of renewed fighting grew on Sunday, when a group of Ivorian army officers briefly took control of state-run television. They broadcast a statement, calling on French troops to pull back from the demilitarized zone. They also said they were ready to resume the war.