One 26-year-old local policeman changing into riot gear said he personally knew perhaps 100 of the protesters he was policing.

BBC: Why Slovenia is content no more

That is, until the publication earlier this month of photographs showing Mr Fischer beating up a policeman during a riot in 1973, followed by his appearance this week as a witness at the murder trial of a fellow street-fighter turned terrorist.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

The Christmas Eve 1806 protest led to a riot in which dozens were injured and a policeman was killed.

CNN: When Italian immigrants were 'the other'

And Justice Bekebeke, a young township firebrand who killed a policeman for firing at a child during a riot and spent time on death row.

ECONOMIST: Nelson Mandela