Reporters Without Borders activists claim they were beaten up by staff of the Cuban Embassy in Paris when they chained themselves to the embassy railings to protest against the imprisonment of 26 journalists in Cuba, writes Jon Slattery.

A dozen protesters, including RWB general secretary Robert Mènard, said they were attacked after the ambassador refused to accept a letter demanding the release of Cuban journalists.

According to the press freedom group, Cuba has now overtaken Eritrea, Burma and China as the world’s biggest prison for journalists.

The demonstrators wore masks and T-shirts bearing pictures of the jailed journalists and carried two banners, one reading “Cuba = prison” and the other showing a quote by one of those imprisoned, Raùl Rivero, saying: “I don’t plot, I write.”

Jon Slattery