Protests in Cuba over lack of freedom, economy

Havana: In a rare protest, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in various parts of the country on Sunday against lack of freedom and worsening economic conditions.

In the city of San Antonio de los Banos, just outside Havana province, hundreds of people defied a heavy police presence to air their complaints, reported CNN.

One resident who did not wish to be identified told CNN that residents had been enduring power outages for a week and that had "detonated" the growing outrage.

Videos surfaced on social media show protests in a handful of cities and towns across the island.

In some of the videos, people shouted they "weren't afraid" or that they wanted liberty or access to coronavirus vaccines.

The already struggling Cuban economy has been hit hard as tourism and good imports have dropped steeply during the pandemic, reported CNN.

On Sunday, Cuban health officials reported a record single-day increase for new COVID-19 cases and deaths.