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ABIDJAN - Striking police fired protest shots in the air through the night near their barracks in several districts of Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan, witnesses said on Wednesday.

Many police in the West African country went on strike on Tuesday, saying their demand for salaries equivalent to those of soldiers and paramilitary gendarmes had only been met for senior officers and not for those on the ground.

"There was heavy firing at about five a.m. (0500 GMT) and the police hijacked two taxis," said one resident near the Williamsville barracks. Residents also reported firing from Yopougon and Treichville districts.

The world's biggest cocoa producer remains uneasy after a 1999 military coup that began with an army pay dispute. That set off two years of political turmoil which ruined the country's reputation for stability in a turbulent region.

Officials said on Tuesday that gendarmes and soldiers had been deployed to maintain order, but there were no reports of confrontation between them and police.

"We ask all police to return to their barracks and end this state of disorder," Interior Minister Emile Boga Doudou said in an appeal on state television on Tuesday evening.

Government officials said on Wednesday morning that they had nothing more to add at this stage. Nampa-Reuters