A leading Cuban dissident yesterday accused a "two-faced" French government of putting trade ahead of the suffering of the Cuban people.

The comments by Marta Beatriz Roque, a 60-year-old economist who was arrested during a protest outside the French embassy in Havana on Bastille Day, came after Paris unilaterally ended a European Union diplomatic embargo against the regime of President Fidel Castro, and normalised relations with his government.

Apparently emboldened by the French overture, Cuban authorities responded by launching the largest wave of dissident arrests since 2003, when almost the entire dissident leadership of the Communist-ruled island was rounded up.

In the latest wave of arrests, about 30 democracy activists, including Mrs Roque, were taken into custody after they attempted to protest outside the French embassy on July 14 to denounce the new policy towards Cuba. As many as 19 were still believed to be in custody last night.

Fourteen dissidents were released after a day or two in detention, including Mrs Roque, who is in fragile health after two periods of imprisonment.

Speaking from her Havana home, Mrs Roque said the aborted protest was organised after France broke the EU embargo and invited the Cuban foreign minister, Felipe Perez Roque to a Bastille Day celebration at the French embassy, from which dissidents and democracy activists were excluded. The French invitation was intended to signal the normalisation of relations between Paris and Havana. Mrs Roque alleged that France had sold out its principles for the sake of business deals with Cuba.

"For a little money, they have made the Cuban people suffer," she said.

Mrs Roque, the president of the outlawed Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society, was among a group of dissident leaders invited to the residence of Marie-France Pagnier, the French ambassador to Havana on July 13, a day ahead of the Bastille Day celebrations.

"The French are two-faced," she said. "The day before, their ambassador invited a group of us to her house through the back door, the next day they are welcoming the minister and applauding a speech in which he promised to carry on with repression."

The Bastille Day invitation went against an agreement by 24 of the 25 EU governments, who decided in February that neither dissidents nor Cuban government leaders should be invited to national day celebrations at European embassies. Spain, a vocal supporter of trade and political ties with Havana, abstained.

"France has shattered European Union unity, and wrecked the balance between the opposition and the government. France has strengthened the government," Mrs Roque said.

Embarrassed French officials have called for the release of those arrested outside their embassy. The foreign ministry said it was following the situation with ''the greatest attention''.