Cubans detain an attacker on a street in Havana.

A group of people captured a thief who assaulted a man in an area of Vedado, in Havana, this Thursday.

The moment when the alleged criminal is caught and subsequently handed over to the police was captured in a video by a witness of the incident and shared on Facebook by the Cuban journalist Mario Vallejo.

"Right now!! In front of the Vedado hotel in Havana, the very everyday Cubans managed to subdue a thief who was dedicated to snatching purses and backpacks from his victims. And yet the regime says that crime on the island is low," commented Vallejo.

The images show several people holding the criminal on O street, between 23 and 25, introducing him through the service door of the hotel and keeping him there while they wait for the police to arrive.

The woman who recorded the video commented that hotel staff kept it in that place because "people already wanted to hit him."

A patrol arrived a couple of minutes later, and two officers arrested the wrongdoer and took him to a police station.

Based on the comments in the video, it is presumed that the detained individual had attempted to assault more than one person. One of the victims was an elderly man, who at the end of the video is seen entering the Vedado hotel with the employees who helped capture the thief.

Amid the systemic crisis that Cuba is experiencing, an increase in insecurity has been reported in the cities and towns of the country, due to the frequent robberies, armed assaults, and murders that are being recorded.

In many cases, the population decides to take matters into their own hands to capture the assailants and hand them over to the authorities, although without any guarantees that they will be kept in detention and processed by the justice system as they should be.