Rwandan protesters call for the release of spy chief accused of ordering massacres

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Hundreds of people picketed the British High Commission in Kigali on Wednesday following the arrest of Rwanda's top spy chief in London.

While the pro-government New Times estimated the crowd at "thousands," BBC News and the Associated Press reported that a few hundred protesters had gathered outside the high commission (equivalent to an embassy, in Commonwealth countries) over General Karenzi Karake's arrest Saturday at Heathrow Airport.

Karake, the head of Rwanda's National Intelligence and Security Services, is accused of ordering reprisal killings in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was held under a European arrest warrant issued following a request by a Spanish judge in 2008.

The Rwandan government has reacted angrily to Karake's arrest, describing it as politically motivated and an "outrage." Some experts have questioned the quality of evidence used in the Spanish indictment, as well as the timing of the arrest, according to the BBC.

Human Rights Watch said it had reviewed the indictment, "which it believes has some merit," and called for investigations to continue into the alleged crimes.

A tweet by the editor of Kigali Today described British High Commissioner William Gelling as "shaken" as he came out to speak with protesters.

One protester held a sign that read: "Arrest those that committed genocide rather than arresting those who stopped genocide."

Wednesday's protest was apparently sanctioned by authorities. Officially, 30 days of advance notice is required for public assemblies in Rwanda, according to the Washington, DC-based International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), with "no exception made for spontaneous demonstrations." The ICNL noted "excessive criminal and financial penalties for violations."

President Paul Kagame, in power since the end of the genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, has been criticized for stifling dissent and media freedom under an increasingly autocratic rule.

His government is also accused of targeting political opponents in exile with attacks and assassinations. On New Year's Day 2014, the former Rwandan spy chief, Patrick Karegeya, was strangled to death in a fancy Johannesburg hotel. Karegeya was once an ally of Kagame but had fallen out of favor and went into hiding in South Africa.