Cuban state media later denied that anyone had been hit by police gunfire and announced five arrests.
Dramatic footage shows a large crowd gathering outside the building in the town of Morón as a fire burns in the street and protesters throw burning objects at the building.
Protesters can be heard chanting “Libertad, libertad!” – Spanish for “Freedom, freedom!” – right before gunfire rings out in the video.
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A young man appears to collapse as others nearby shout in Spanish: “They shot him! They’re shooting! They said they wouldn’t shoot, but they shot him.”
The video then shows people carrying the injured man away from the scene.
Morón is located on the north coast of Cuba, about 400 kilometers east of the capital Havana, near the tourist resort of Cayo Coco.
“The image circulating shows the scene of the protest, but it is important that the public knows the truth: no one was injured by gunfire,” state media outlet Vanguardia de Cuba said on X.
“Media manipulation seeks to create fear and confusion among our people. Let us not fall for provocations,” it added.
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State media said police had arrested five people and that a “drunk” participant had fallen and was being treated for his injuries in hospital.
Over the past week, several small groups of residents across Havana have been banging pots in protest against the extended power outage.
Cuba has suffered rolling power outages, food shortages and renewed protests linked to the island’s worsening energy and economic crisis.
A recent nationwide blackout was caused by a fault at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the island’s largest power station, which cut electricity to much of the country, according to Reuters.
The crisis has been exacerbated by fuel shortages after the Trump administration curtailed oil shipments to the island, particularly from Venezuela, one of Cuba’s main suppliers.
Cuban officials say U.S. sanctions have worsened the country’s economic problems, while repeated failures at power plants and an aging electricity grid have left millions of people facing extended power outages, fueling growing public frustration and protests.
A Cuban woman wearing a T-shirt with the American flag sells coconut cookies on a street in Havana on Saturday. (Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)
“What initially started peacefully, and after an exchange with local authorities, turned into acts of vandalism against the headquarters of the Municipal Party Committee,” state newspaper Invasor reported, according to Reuters.
“A smaller group of people stoned the entrance to the building and started a fire in the street using furniture from the reception area,” it added.
Vandals also targeted several other state-owned businesses in the area, including a pharmacy and a government market, the report said.
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On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said he was in talks with the US government, marking the first time the Caribbean country confirmed widespread speculation about talks with the Trump administration.
Díaz-Canel said no oil shipments have arrived in Cuba in the past three months and blamed a US energy blockade. He said the island runs on a mixture of natural gas, solar energy and thermoelectric power plants.
