Riot dog

For the Greek sausage, see Loukaniko.

Riot dog is a term used by English-speaking media denoting any of the stray dogs that, in recent years, accompany street protesters in Athens, Greece.[1] It has been observed that a number of these dogs remain among the protesters even when violent rioting breaks out.[2][3] Some of the dogs have been prominently featured in media reportage on the protests.[4] Greece's Riot Dogs have acquired, through the years, a large following of fans around the world.[5][6][7]

The dogs

Kanellos (Greek: Κανέλλος: cinnamon), a distinct blonde, male, mixed-breed canine,[8] was arguably the first incarnation of the Greek Riot Dog. His maiden appearance was in photographs taken at a general assembly of students in the occupied National Technical University of Athens. Kanellos became famous in the 2008 Greek riots, when Greek photographers and cameramen started to notice a dog that kept appearing in their footage.[1][4] The stray seemed to always walk amongst and side with the protesters.[9]

According to reports by witnesses, Kanellos, in his final years, suffered from arthritis, which motivated a group of college students to collect money and purchase him a dog's wheelchair. This allowed him to live indoors, among the students, until he died.[10]

Thodoris is a Kanellos look-alike, believed to be one of Kanellos' pups. Thodoris is a light golden-colored, mixed breed dog, who, despite being a stray, has seemingly been provided with all the necessary medical shots, as evidenced by his blue collar.[7][11]

Loukanikos (Greek: Λουκάνικος: the sausage loukaniko) or more commonly Louk, sometimes confused by the media for Kanellos,[12] has been present at nearly every recent protest in Athens in the past few years.[12] This stray has ostensibly become the symbol of Greek protests against the IMF- and ECB-prompted austerity measures.[13] There's uncertainty about the claim that Loukanikos and Thodoris may, in fact, be the same dog.[14]

In September 2011, on the occasion of a striking policemen's union marching in the centre of Athens,[15] Loukanikos, according to eyewitnesses,[14] was "initially confused" between two opposite sides both of uniformed policemen but, when the riot police contingent attacked their striking colleagues, the dog sided with "those who were being attacked."

Loukanikos' health was "severely burdened" by the inhaling of tear gas and other chemicals during the many riots in which he participated[16] but lived until approximately ten years of age, dying peacefully on the 9th of October 2014 at the home of a person who cared for him.[16]

Other dogs

In Chile, in the 2010s, a stray dog has been seen accompanying student protests. Reportedly, protesters nicknamed him "Negro Matapaco" or "Matapaco" (from Spanish matar, to kill, and paco, which is Chilean slang for "policeman"; his full nickname therefore translates to "black cop-killer"), or refer to him simply as "El Negro".[17]

In culture

In 2011, American singer/songwriter David Rovics released a song entitled "The Riot Dog".[18]

Gallery

Video footage

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Riot Dog fans", News.com, Australia, 11 May 2010
  2. ↑ "Greece's front-line riot dog", BBC News, 17 June 2011
  3. ↑ "With Dog on Your Side" by Jon Queally, Common Dreams, 5 July 2010
  4. 1 2 "Demo dog loves street protests", The Sun, 7 May 2010
  5. ↑ "Grekisk rebellhund hyllas på nätet" ("Greek rebel dog is hailed on the web"), Dagliga Nyheter, 5 August 2010 (in Swedish)
  6. ↑ "Ein griechischer Held" ("A Greek Hero"), KampfLieder, 11 October 2011 (in German)
  7. 1 2 "Amid the turmoil of the Greece financial crisis, photos and videos of street protests have turned up a kind of canine "Where's Waldo" figure: a mutt that....clearly has a strong interest in civic disorder": From "Mysterious 'Rebel Dog' of Greek riots becoming latest Web icon" by Brett Dykes, Yahoo News, 7 May 2010
  8. ↑ "Kanellos the Greek protest dog makes another appearance" WINK-TV, CBS affiliate, 7 May 2010
  9. ↑ "The hound always seems to side with the protesters, whatever the dispute." From "Kanellos the Greek protest dog", The Guardian, 6 May 2010
  10. ↑ "OK! let’s clear this out" RebelDog website
  11. ↑ "Mange Against the Machine", by Paul Katie, Newsweek, May 2010
  12. 1 2 "Loukanikos, the Greek anarchist dog" LibCom, 8 May 2010
  13. ↑ "Activist hounding Greek cabinet", The Australian, 20 June 2011
  14. 1 2 "Kanellos and Thodoris Loukanikos" by 'Karlo Krystaller', Black Capitalism, 25 December 2011 (in Greek)
  15. ↑ "Police protest low salaries", Kathimerini, 27 September 2011
  16. 1 2 "Ena Adio Ston Loukaniko" ("A Goodbye to Loukanikos"), Avgi, 9 October 2014 (in Greek)
  17. ↑ Documental Matapaco (2013) (in Spanish)
  18. ↑ "Η μικρή ιστορία του 'Lucky Λουκ'" ("The short story of Lucky 'Louk' "), in Dimokratia, 24 June 2011 (in Greek)

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.