High-handed arrests of protestors paint worrying sign of police state

Last week, police in Nairobi broke up a demonstration by 900 workers facing retrenchment, and arrested five people. Four of those arrested were released unconditionally, having been held overnight at the Central Police Station on charges of robbery with violence. 

Witnesses say the plain-clothed police officers used excessive force while arresting the four. One of them, a well-known journalist working for a civil society organisation, was assaulted and police smashed a number of cell-phones, including his, as a way of discouraging a recording of the arrests.