Pro-Castro mob stops human rights marches

Supporters of Fidel Castro broke up two International Human Rights Day marches in Havana and chased away a British diplomat who was watching.

Hundreds of Cubans confronted a march led by Yusnaimi Jorge, wife of Darcy Ferrer, a veteran dissident who heads demonstrations every 10 December but has been in prison since the summer.

"This street is Fidel's," the crowd yelled as a group of men, believed to be plain-clothes security agents, ringed the demonstrators. The mob also pursued Chris Stimpson, second secretary of the British Embassy, who fled in his car.

The Ladies in White opposition group marched to screams of "mercenaries" from supporters of the government and the former leader but there was no violence.