Riot dog

Riot Dog is the term denoting any of the stray dogs that often accompany street protesters in Athens, Greece, in recent years.[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 these 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]

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The dogs

Kanellos (Greek: Κανέλλος: of cinnamon), a distinct blonde, male, mixed-breed canine[7], 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, in which he always seemed to walk amongst and side with the protesters.[8] Greek photographers and cameramen started to notice a dog that kept appearing in the riot footage.[1][4]

According to reports by witnesses, in his final years, Kanellos had severe arthritis, motivating a group of college students to collect money and purchase him a dog's wheelchair, which allowed him to live among them indoors until he passed away.[9]

Thodoris, or more commonly Louk, is a Kanellos look-alike, thought to be one of Kanellos' pups. Louk is a light golden-colored, mixed breed, who despote being a stray dog has been seemingly provided with all the necessary medical shots, according to his blue collar.[6][10]

Loukanikos (Greek: Λουκάνικος: of sausage), sometimes confused by the media for Kanellos[11], has been present at nearly every recent protest in Greece in the past few years.[11] This stray has ostensibly become the symbol of the Greek protests against the IMF and the ECB-backed austerity measures.[12]

Gallery

Video footage

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "Demo dog loves street protests", The Sun, 7 May 2010
  5. ^ "Greek rebel dog is hailed on the web", Dagliga Nyheter, 5 August 2010 (in Swedish)
  6. ^ a b "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
  7. ^ "Kanellos the Greek protest dog makes another appearance" WINK-TV, CBS affiliate, 7 May 2010
  8. ^ "The hound always seems to side with the protesters, whatever the dispute." From "Kanellos the Greek protest dog", The Guardian, 6 May 2010
  9. ^ "OK! let’s clear this out" RebelDog website
  10. ^ "Mange Against the Machine", by Paul Katie, Newsweek, May 2010
  11. ^ a b "Loukanikos, the Greek anarchist dog" LibCom, 8 May 2010
  12. ^ "Activist hounding Greek cabinet", The Australian, 20 June 2011

External links