A judge in the country has turned down a request by defence lawyers who have called for the release of the six French and the three people from Chad who were still held in custody.
The French charity Zoe’s Ark workers claimed in their defence that they thought the children they were rescuing were Darfur war orphans, but this was found not to be the case.
Earlier in November, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had said he wanted to go to Chad to bring the workers back to France and this had angered many people in Chad.
Most of the demonstrators were high school students and they eventually assembled at the French embassy with many carrying banners that read "Sarkozy, out of Chad"
