Over the weekend, thousands of Cubans took to the streets across the country peacefully protesting the oppression of Cuba’s communist regime, resulting in about 200 protestors being arrested.

According to Reverend Jatniel Peréz, President of William Carey Biblical Seminary, this included three protestant pastors and a Catholic priest.

Yéremi Blanco Ramírez and Yarian Sierra were arrested, and are still being held in a prison just outside Havana.

The two pastors were not participating in the peaceful protests, but were simply watching from a nearby street.

In a post on Facebook, Rev Peréz is calling on the Communist regime to release the two men. There is particular concern for Pastor Sierra, who has a serious underlying health condition, making his susceptible to the COVID virus that is running rampant in Cuba’s unsanitary prisons.

In addition, Baptist minister Yusniel Pérez Montejo was arrested by the police, but no one knows where he is detained.

Father Castor José Álvarez Devesa, a Catholic priest, was also arrested, and though beaten in custody, he has since been released.

Rev Peréz is also under a form of house arrest, as Cuba’s communist overlords are not allowing him to leave his home.

As part of its crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations, Cuba’s communist party, led by President Miguel Díaz Canel, has blocked all access to social media apps.

Despite the crackdown, the protests continued through the week.

Even members of Cuba’s government are questioning the government’s harsh reaction to the peaceful demonstrations. Deputy Minister of the Interior of Cuba Jesús Manuel Burón Tabit has since resigned after questioning the government’s excessive use of force.

READ: Three Protestant pastors still detained in Cuba but Catholic Priest released after being beaten