Fidel Castro keeps a tight rein on power in Cuba

Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg and German MP Arnold Vaatz were seized by police and driven to Havana airport.

The pair were due to address a meeting of dissidents opposed to the Communist rule of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

The EU, which has called for 61 jailed dissidents to be released, will decide next month whether to impose sanctions against Cuba for human rights abuses.

Mr Schwarzenberg, a chief of staff to former Czech President Vaclav Havel, was abruptly taken to the airport after Cuban police arrived at his hotel.

"This is the typical behaviour of a totalitarian state," he said.

"I did nothing against the law, they just didn't like the people I was visiting."

'Astonishing'

Mr Schwarzenberg and Mr Vaatz were among dozens of European politicians invited to appear at the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, a conference organised by dissident opponents of Mr Castro.

Two Polish politicians were refused entry to the country on Tuesday, and put back on immediate return flights home.

The assembly will take place in the home of a dissident leader

The EU is reportedly keen to see whether Cuban authorities actually allow the assembly, the first of its kind, to take place.

The umbrella gathering of dissident groups, organised by economist Martha Beatriz Roque, is expected to attract up to 500 participants.

Some key Cuban dissidents have decided not to attend.

The most notable absentee is Oswaldo Paya, of the Christian Liberation Movement.

He has criticised the meeting as a fraud set up with the connivance of the Cuban security forces.

Strained relations

Mr Schwarzenberg, who was travelling on a tourist visa, insisted that the assembly was not his only reason for visiting Cuba, but stressed his interest stemmed from years of work promoting democracy in eastern Europe.

"It is very astonishing to be pushed out of a country without doing anything against the law," he told the Reuters news agency.

Several other EU politicians have been arrested or barred from entering Cuba in recent years, accused of fostering links with dissidents.

EU-Cuban relations have been strained since 75 were people were arrested during a crackdown on political opponents in March 2003.

The EU imposed sanctions but lifted them when 14 were released last year. Sixty-one still remain in jail.