BRUSSELS - Nineteen days after Rose Kabuye’s arrest in Germany and extradition to France, protests against what many consider an illegal arrest of the chief of State Protocol continue all over the world.

Apart from the ongoing online protests and petitions by Rwandans the world over, the Diaspora in Belgium also mounted a rally in Brussels, Belgium Thursday afternoon.

Chantal Karara, head of the Rwandan Diaspora in Belgium confirmed this in a phone interview. She told The New Times that La Place Schuman, an area close to the European Commission institutions was the setting of the protests.

"We sang and danced in protest to Rose’s arrest,” she said, adding that they also sent, through a representative, a memo of protest to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.

"His representative came and listened to our protests,” she said, explaining that they also wrote requesting the EU to consider looking into the basis of the indictments and arrest warrants issued by French Judge, Jean Louis Bruguiere.

Kabuye was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany on the basis of Bruguiere’s arrest warrants.

The French Judge claims that she played a role in downing former President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane.

"We pointed out that people like Rose Kabuye are the ones who fought to liberate our country, unlike what is being suggested in the faulty indictment charges,” Karara said.
More protests are planned for today in Paris.

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