(16 Oct 2021) Several thousand people staged a march in Puerto Rico on Friday in protest at frequent electricity cuts.
They directed their anger towards Luma, a private company that took over the island's power distribution network in June.
The protesters said the ongoing power cuts were affecting health, work and schooling.
Some were also angry at Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, which owns and operates generation units that have been breaking down recently largely due to a lack of maintenance and repair.
Thousands of demonstrators marched down a main highway in the capital, of San Juan, blocking traffic in the evening rush hour.
Once it was dark, they held their cellphones aloft, turning the highway into a sea of tiny lights.
Cicma Albino, a 56-year-old teacher from Guayama who drove more than an hour to participate in the demonstration, said power cuts had affected her school for three days.
"We had to send them home," she said of the students.
Puerto Rico's power grid has grown increasingly unstable since Hurricane Maria struck the island in September 2017.
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