Tens of thousands of people took part Wednesday in the biggest demonstrations seen in Rwanda since the country`s 1994 genocide massacres, protesting against France`s charges against a top aide to President Paul Kagame.

The name of Rose Kabuye, who was extradited from Germany to France on Wednesday, following her arrest in Frankfurt on November 9, featured strongly in the mass protests in Kigali.

`Free our dear Rose`, `We condemn France and Germany` said slogans scribbled on banners as demonstrators converged on the German embassy and the office of Germany`s national broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.

The protests were organised with the Rwandan authorities` backing to coincide with the transfer to Kabuye.

The presidential aide was detained on a warrant issued by a French anti-terrorism judge probing the role of Kagame`s entourage in the 1994 crash of a plane carrying then president Juvenal Habyarimana.

The Hutu president`s death is widely believed to have sparked the genocide by Hutu militias of the country`s Tutsi minority.

`The government and the people of Rwanda demand that France release her immediately because the indictment is politically motivated,` said an information ministry statement.

`She is an innocent political hostage,` read the text, which also called on `the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and France to cease the judicial harassment of Rwandan officials.`

Before protestors started flooding the streets of Kigali, the city was at a standstill.

All shops and offices were closed as the entire country was unofficially granted a day off to join the protests. Thousands of residents from towns and villages across Rwanda were trucked in to swell the numbers.

`The country will rise up as one man,` Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told AFP on Tuesday.

Some demonstrations were also planned in other towns in the country of more than nine million people which has embarked on unprecedented mobilisation against the extradition.

On Kigali`s main roundabout, an electronic billboard flashes the highlights of Kabuye`s life, from her days in the bush as a rebel to her accession as Kagame`s top aide.

An early member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which eventually ended the 1994 genocide and has held power ever since, Kabuye is the country`s first ever woman to reach the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

`We will continue to fight for the release of Rose Kabuye and her return to Rwanda,` the billboard message read.

Kagame`s Tutsi regime has denounced Kabuye`s arrest, accusing France of persecuting the genocide`s survivors instead of hunting its perpetrators, some of whom are believed to be living in Europe.

Rwanda has accused France of supporting Hutu militias during the genocide and has threatened to issue warrants and indictments of its own against top French military and political officials.

In the crowd, a female RPF veteran shouted: `Arresting Rose who stopped the genocide is tantamount to trampling Rwanda`s sovereignty. We have lived with Rose, we know she is innocent, we reject imperialism.`