English: In December 1949, at the prison of Grand Bassam, 500* Ivorian women protested the incarceration of their husbands and brothers, militants of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), a federation of anticolonial African political parties. On the 22nd of December, organised in small groups so as to elude the watchful colonial administration, the women left Abidjan and set off on foot for Grand Bassam. On the 24th of December, as they were making their way towards the prison, they were stopped and beaten by French soldiers. Forty protestors were injured and four were prosecuted without any of their loved ones being released. (UNESCO's website)