Dozens of individuals are arrested in Cuba after thousands joined the most important protests for many years against the island's Communist government, media and opposition sources say.
Cubans are angered by the collapse of the economy, food and medicine shortages, price hikes and therefore the government's handling of Covid-19.
The protests are significant as critics face harsh punishment for dissent.
The island's president involved his supporters to "fight" the protesters.
One of those at Sunday's protests, named only as Alejandro, told BBC Mundo: "There is not any food, no medicine, there's no freedom. they are doing not allow us to live."
Protesters shouted "freedom" and "down with the dictatorship" in demonstrations across Cuba, including the capital Havana.
"We aren't afraid. we would like change, we don't want any longer dictatorship," an unnamed protester in San
Anti-government protesters were arrested by security forces who were assisted by civilian clothing officers, Reuters press agency reports. Images on social media showed what seemed to be security forces detaining, beating and pepper-spraying a number of the protesters.
There were reports of internet blackouts across the island and a photographer with Associated Press was injured after a confrontation with security forces.
In response to the rare unrest, President Miguel DÃaz-Canel addressed the state during a TV broadcast and blamed the US for the turmoil. He called its tight sanctions on Cuba - which are in situ in various forms since 1962 - a "policy of economic suffocation".
Mr DÃaz-Canel said the protesters were mercenaries hired by the US to destabilise the country, and involved his supporters to travel out and defend the revolution - pertaining to the 1959 uprising which ushered in Communist rule.
"The order to fight has been given - into the road , revolutionaries!" he announced.
The top US diplomat for Latin America , Julie Chung, tweeted: "We are deeply concerned by 'calls to combat' in Cuba."
The US - which features a decades-old history of hostilities with Cuba - has said it stands with Cubans, and called on those in government to refrain from violence and hear its people.
"The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights," US President Joe Biden said during a statement.
Looted shops
The anti-government protests began with an indication within the city of San Antonio de los Baños, south-west of Havana, but soon spread throughout the country.
Many were broadcast survive social networks, which showed marchers shouting slogans against the govt and therefore the president, and calling for change.
Posts on social media showed people overturning police cars and looting some state-owned shops which price their goods in foreign currencies. for several Cubans, these shops are the sole way they will buy basic necessities but prices are high.
Cuba's economy is struggling. Tourism, one among the foremost important sectors, has been devastated by the restrictions on travel during the Covid pandemic.
Sugar, which is usually exported, is another key earner for Cuba. But this year's harvest has been much worse than expected.
Cuba's sugar monopoly, Azcuba, said the shortfall was responsible on variety of things , including a scarcity of fuel and therefore the breakdown of machinery which made bringing within the harvest difficult, also as natural factors like humidity within the fields.
As a result, the government's reserves of foreign currency are depleted, meaning it cannot stock imported goods to supplement shortages, because it would normally do.
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