(5 Aug 2005)
++AUDIO AS INCOMING+++
1. Wide shot exterior European Commission building in Havana, people gathered outside
2. Close up sign reading: "European Commission building"
3. Medium shot of press and dissidents
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Martha Beatriz Roque, Cuban Dissident:
"It's possible, it's possible they have decided today is not a good day, or perhaps there are other reasons they have taken this decision, but whatever the reason it's unfortunate that we have come here with the family members of the imprisoned ones and they won't receive us."
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Lazaro Enrique Suarez, government worker:
"Because the EU, the European Parliament, has formed a block with the United States to fight against Cuba."
6. Tilt down from EU flag to people in exterior of European Union building
7. Medium shot people with Cuban flag chanting UPSOUND (Spanish) "Viva la Revolution", "Viva Cuba", "Viva Fidel Castro"
8. Medium shot people leaving
STORYLINE:
Cuban dissidents attempting to meet with European Union diplomats in Havana on Friday, were turned away from the European Commission building by officials inside.
The group, led by Marat Beatriz Roque, are relatives of some 20 dissidents imprisoned in July.
No reason was given for the refusal to meet with the dissidents by officials.
Government supporters, meanwhile, commandeered a news media gathering called by dissidents on Friday morning, using impassioned speeches and shouts of "Viva Fidel Castro!" to draw journalists' attention away from their opponents and toward their own pro-revolutionary message.
The rapid, non-violent break-up of the morning gathering outside the European Commission building in Havana marked a new degree of sophistication in the government's recent handling of the international media's coverage of public appearances by dissidents.
While three pro-Castro militants loudly complained on camera to international reporters about the dissidents, referring to them as mercenaries and worms, the opposition leaders who called the media out quietly slipped away.
The whole event lasted less than a half hour.
There was no immediate word from officials at the European Commission building about the meeting on Friday. The EU's highest ranking official in Cuba, EU business attache Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, was reported to be out of the country.
Cuban authorities were enraged by the two earlier public protests, and the news coverage of them.
In both cases, they were broken up by government supporters in much more aggressive ways, with shouting, shoving, the surrounding of dissidents' homes and some arrests. Nevertheless, no injuries were reported in either event.
President Castro referred to the protests during his Rebellion Day speech last week, defending counter-protests.
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