Government supporters carrying bats alongside police began to break up the protests. Hundreds of Cubans were arrested; some for clashing with officials, others for merely filming the turmoil with their phones.

As protests in San Jose de las Lajas were disrupted by government supporters and police, Nadir and Jorge Perdomo returned to their house and filmed a video on their phones that they were able to post online despite the government's attempts to cut internet access on the island.

"No one paid us," Nadir says in the video, rebuffing government claims that the protests had been contrived.

"We are just reacting the way all the people did."