March Of The Ladies In White Concludes Without Arrests This Sunday / 14ymedio

Activists supporting the Ladies in White Sunday on 5th Avenue. (Luz Escobar / 14ymedio)
Activists supporting the Ladies in White Sunday on 5th Avenue. (Luz Escobar / 14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 21 June 2015 – During the day, this Sunday, the Ladies and White held their traditional peregrination along Fifth Avenue in the vicinity of Santa Rita Church. Unlike the previous ten occasions, today no arrests were reported after the march, although at least 5 women belonging to the movement and 7 activists were detained to keep them from getting to the site.

In total, some 50 Ladies in White managed to get to the church and were accompanied on this occasion by 27 activists and independent journalists. Berta Soler confirmed to this newspaper that “there were no arrests after the Mass,” and that this Sunday they only “marched down Fifth Avenue, with the gladioli and the photos of the faces of the political prisoners,” but “out of respect for Father’s Day, after we finished each of us went to our own homes.”

Independent journalist Yuri Lazaro Valle Roca also reported to 14ymedio that there were no acts of repudiation nor the violent arrests that had characterized the previous Sundays.

Although there was a visible police operation in the area, the repressive forces did not proceed to arrest those who made it there.