HAVANA—Plainclothes police kicked their way into a Roman Catholic church in eastern Cuba, beat and used pepper spray on a group of dissidents, a priest said on Wednesday.
The incident took place on Tuesday at the parish of Santa Teresita in Santiago, Cuba's second city, as Father Jose Conrado Rodriguez was dressing before saying evening mass.
"I thought the church was on fire when I heard all the shouting," Rodriguez said in a telephone interview.
The police handcuffed and took away five people who were among two dozen opponents of Cuba's communist government who had marched dressed in black through the streets of Santiago to protest the detention of a fellow dissident, Corado said.
The dissidents arrived at Rodriguez's church to attend mass and mingled with parishioners.
"I told the police they acted like barbarians. They kicked their way into the parish, beating people and spraying gas in their eyes," the priest said.
Rodriguez said the police action was led by a lieutenant colonel of the state security forces who was dressed in civilian clothes and gave him no explanations.
The incident occurred at a time of improved relations between Cuba's ruling Communist Party and the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Cuba declined to comment. The Cuban government had no immediate comment.
Cuba's main rights group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, condemned what it termed a "most serious and almost unprecedented act of political repression" and called for an official inquiry.
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