Welcome

Kevin Woke Up.

A story. 

Thousands of Cubans have joined the biggest protests for decades against the island's Communist government.

They marched in cities including the capital Havana, shouting "freedom" and "down with the dictatorship".

Cubans have been angered by the collapse of the economy, food shortages, high prices and the government's handling of the pandemic.

The protests are significant, with government critics risking jail for dissent in the island.

"We are not afraid. We want change, we do not want any more dictatorship," one protester in San Antonio told the BBC.

Images on social media showed what appeared to be security forces detaining and beating some of the protesters.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel is blaming the US for the turmoil, calling its tight sanctions on Cuba - which have been in place in various forms since 1962 - a "policy of economic suffocation".

He said the protesters were mercenaries hired by the US to destabilise the country, and called for his supporters to go out and defend the revolution - referring to the 1959 uprising which ushered in Communist rule.

"The order to fight has been given - into the street, revolutionaries!" he said in an address on TV.

The top US diplomat for Latin America, Julie Chung, tweeted: "We are deeply concerned by 'calls to combat' in Cuba."