At every station stroll uniformed guards, truncheons in hand, deterring muggers and graffiti artists.

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In Algiers, the capital, only a few hundred protesters braved rain and police truncheons to shout anti-Bouteflika slogans.

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Plenty more Belarusians sympathise with the demonstrators than are willing to face the temperatures and truncheons on the square.

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That the police have begun waving their truncheons in defence of their privileged pay and conditions of service is unsurprising.

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In their absence, the thawar patrol the streets with police truncheons.

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When Kenya's ill-equipped and untrained police arrived at the scene, carrying truncheons and rifles instead of spades and pickaxes, Nairobians, often thought selfish and corrupt by other Kenyans, contemptuously swept the police aside as they plunged in to free victims from the rubble.

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