Cubans bang pots at days-long blackout after Ian
STORY: The massive storm, now plowing north along the southeast coast of the United States, caused Cuba's grid to collapse earlier this week. It knocked out power to the entire island of 11 million people, flattened homes and obliterated agricultural fields.
For some Cubans - already reeling from shortages of food, fuel and medicine - the prolonged blackout was the last straw.
Protests on the street in communist-run Cuba are very rare. Last July 11, anti-government rallies saw police arrest more than 1,000 people, according to estimates from human rights groups, and hundreds of protesters remain in jail, official figures show.
A Reuters journalist saw pot-banging and small groups protesting peacefully on the street in several other areas of the city. Reports on social media also showed small protests throughout Havana, and some provinces, beginning Thursday afternoon through early Friday morning.
In Havana, the pot-banging appeared to align with areas without electricity. Elsewhere in the city, streets were largely quiet.
Officials earlier on Thursday had announced progress in restoring power to Havana, where the lights were back on in neighborhoods throughout the capital. However, parts of the city, outlying provinces as well as vast swathes of western Cuba, still remained in the dark.
