Between 15,000 and 20,000 people marched in Korhogo, the hometown in the north of the country of rebel leader Ibrahim Coulibaly, according to Eric Ouattara, head of the FOSC, an umbrella civil society group.
Coulibaly has been placed under judicial investigation in Paris after being arrested on August 23 for allegedly plotting to assassinate the west African country's President Laurent Gbagbo.
"We are marching because we know that IB (Coulibaly) is to appear tomorrow before a French court," Ouattara said.
An independent journalist in the town said that several thousand people were marching in Korhogo and nearby villages.
An anti-terrorist magistrate placed Coulibaly under judicial investigation last week for belonging to "an association of criminals in connection with a terrorist operation" and recruiting mercenaries.
One of his lawyers, Sorin Margulis, said Coulibaly was suspected of "recruiting mercenaries with a view to physically eliminating the president of Ivory Coast", but added he is not being probed for an attempted assassination.
In addition to spearheading Ivory Coast's first-ever coup in 1999, Coulibaly was a driving force behind a rebellion last September which plunged the country into civil war and crippled its cocoa-based economy.
He is expected to appear today before a Paris judge who will rule on whether he should remain in custody.
Ouattara alleged that the rebel leader was the target of a smear campaign orchestrated by Gbagbo.
"We cannot accept this plot.
In 1999 it was this man and his comrades who took up arms to free us," when rebels overthrew then president Robert Guei. – Sapa-AFP.
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