By REUTERS

          HAVANA -- Tens of thousands of Cuban Protestants held an
          open-air celebration Sunday at Revolution Square in Havana in a
          further sign of increased religious tolerance by the ruling Communist
          Party.

          Banging tambourines, joining hands, waving banners, and chanting "Christ
          Lives!" or "Cuba for Christ!", nearly 100,000 people filled the square
          from early hours for the culmination of monthlong Protestant celebrations
          across the island.

          President Fidel Castro and other senior Government leaders watched
          from front-row seats.

          The event was in the same place where 500,000 Cubans gathered in
          January 1998 for a Catholic Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II, and
          also attended by Castro, during his historic visit.

          The papal trip was considered a watershed in Cuba's state-church
          relations after decades of marginalization of religion.

          Both the Pope's visitand the event today "are clear evidence that there is
          a process of understanding, mutual trust, and opening, which will continue
          offering space to the church," said RaÄul Suarez, a Protestant leader.

          The celebration was broadcast live on state-run television -- which has
          usually given little space to religion -- and was organized with the full
          cooperation of Cuban authorities.

          Since the 1959 revolution, the square has been the setting for most of the
          biggest political rallies and many of the Cuban leader's key speeches.

          "I'd never have expected to be here in Revolution Square today for an
          evangelical celebration," said Oscar Mas, 56, a member of the First
          Pentecostal church for the last eight years. "When I started in the church,
          you couldn't do this."

          The event was organized by all Cuba's 49 Protestant churches, which
          claim an active membership of around 250,000 out of the island's
          population of 11 million.

          Although there are no precise figures available, the Catholic Church's
          active membership is considered about the same, with most Cubans
          describing themselves as atheist, non-practicing Catholics, or followers of
          Afro-Cuban religions.

          The Protestant event resembled at times a political rally.