By Marc Frank
HAVANA (Reuters) - A group of Cuban women peacefullydemonstrating for the release of their jailed husbands wereroughed up by a mob and arrested, then released, on Monday nearthe offices of President Raul Castro.
The 10 women, members of an organization known as the"Women in White," gathered at a park at the edge of Cuba'sRevolution Square, near government and Communist Partyheadquarters.
They wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the faces andnames of their loved ones, but carried no signs.
"We are here to demand the release of our husbands andwon't leave until they are free or they arrest us. We havewaited long enough, we want to talk to the new president,"group leader Laura Pollan said.
Moments later, a bus pulled up and about 20 femalecorrections officers tried to arrest the women, who sat on thesidewalk, clasped arms and refused to move.
"They are dying, they are dying," one women yelled withtears in her eyes.
A mob of about 100 government supporters, mainly women fromnearby government buildings, quickly entered the fray, yellinginsults while pushing the women, picking them up and shovingthem into the waiting bus.
"After forcing them into the bus they dropped the Havanaresidents at their homes and sent the others back to theirhomes in the provinces," Marta Bonachea, a spokesperson for thewomen, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The women's husbands and other relatives were arrested in amassive government crackdown in 2003, which landed 75dissidents in prison for long terms on charges of working withthe United States to subvert the government.
Fifty-five of the dissidents remain behind bars.
Raul Castro became Cuba's first new president in nearly 50years in February, when he took over for his ailing brotherFidel Castro.
Various governments and international organizations haveexpressed the hope he would loosen political restrictions inthe one-party socialist state.
Protests are rare in Cuba. In the past, similar actionshave been broken up by government supporters and the protestersheld for a few hours before being released.
The Cuban government contends all its opponents are paidand organized by its enemy, the United States.
The illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rightsestimates there are 230 people in prison in Cuba for expressingtheir political views, serving sentences of up to 28 years.
Amnesty International has deemed 58 of them prisoners ofconscience who are imprisoned solely for the peacefulexpression of beliefs.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)