Police patrol Havana in large numbers after demonstrations

Large contingents of Cuban police are patrolling the capital of Havana following protests around the island nation against food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus crisis

HAVANA -- Large contingents of Cuban police patrolled the capital of Havana on Monday following protests around the island nation against food shortages and high prices amid the coronavirus crisis. Cuba's president said the demonstrations were stirred up on social media by Cuban-Americans in the United States. Many young people took part in the Sunday protests in Havana, which disrupted traffic until police moved in after several hours and broke up the march when a few protesters threw rocks. That demonstration and others in communities around the tightly controlled country were one of the biggest displays of antigovernment sentiment in decades, and authorities appeared determined to put a stop to it. Internet service was also spotty, possibly indicating an effort to prevent protesters from communicating with each other. ‘’We've seen how the campaign against Cuba was growing on social media in the last weeks,'' President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday in a nationally televised appearance in which his entire Cabinet was also present.