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Riot Dog

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Riot Dog
Ed Jewett Offline
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#1
30-09-2011, 01:47 AM
Riot Dog is a term used to describe either of the three (Kanellos, Louk aka Thodoris, and Loukanikos) literal mascot dogs of the protesters of Athens, Greece. For several years a golden/cinnamon colored dog sporting a blue collar has been seen at nearly every riot/protest whether it be peaceful or destructive.[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][2[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_dog#cite_note-yahoo-1"]]

[/URL][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_dog#cite_note-yahoo-1"]

Kanellos

Kanellos (in Greek "Κανέλλος", which means "cinnamon"[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP]) was the first incarnation of Riot Dog. In Greece he was famous since the 1990s when he appears as a puppy in photographs of a general assembly of students in the occupied National Technical University of Athens, where he based his living for the years to come. He became world famous when he was involved in the 2008 Greek riots.[SUP][5][/SUP][SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP][SUP][9][/SUP]Greek photographers capturing riot footage started to notice the dog when he kept appearing in their negatives.[SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP] Kanellos died in 2008 of unknown causes, thought to only be old age. Kanellos lived to be quite old but had severe arthritis in his final days, motivating the local college student to donate money to purchase him a "doggy" wheel chair and allowing him to live among them indoors until he passed.[SUP][12][/SUP]

[edit]Louk

The newer Kanellos look-alike is Thodoris, more commonly called Louk, and is thought to be one of Kanellos' pups. Louk is a light golden colored stray dog, who is up to date on all his shots, hence the blue collar.[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][13][/SUP] During his off time he is relaxed and quite mild, though when witnessed during May 2010 Greek riots he can be seen darting through protesters, dodging canisters of tear gas and fire bombs, taking shots of mace, and even growling and barking at the riot police. He is usually well taken care of by the college students of Athens and lives comfortably considering he roams the streets at will.
Known not only for his seemingly intelligent grasp of what is going on around him, he is known for bringing attention to the political crisis in Greece. A problem which has now gained increasing attention due to Riot Dog's media coverage. He is quickly becoming the face of civil disorder and freedom fighting.[SUP][2][/SUP]

[edit]Loukanikos

Loukanikos (from Greek "λουκάνικο" which means sausage) is a dog that has been present at nearly every protest in Greece in the past few years.[SUP][14][/SUP] The stray has become the symbol of the Greek protests against the IMF and the EU backed austerity measures that are taking place in 2011.[SUP][15][/SUP]

[edit]History

Many of the protesters say that Riot dog (Kanellos, Louk, or Loukanikos) has been taking part in protests for years.[SUP][16][/SUP] His rise to fame occurred mostly after BBC's Newsnight created a video montage of the dog in action during the protests, including barking at police in riot gear and running with other protesters away from tear gas.[SUP][17][/SUP]

[edit]Legend

The legend of riot dogs in Greece can be traced back to 1949 when the poet Yiannis Ritsos (awarded with the Lenin Peace Prize), wrote the poem "Dick" (in Greek, "Ο Ντικ") about the dog that kept company to the political prisoners and alarmed them of their torturers' moves at the exile camp of Moudros on the island of Lemnos [SUP][18][/SUP]. Dick was murdered by the guards. In the '70s after the fall of the colonel's junta, Thanos Mikroutsikos made a song after Ritsos' poem[SUP][19][/SUP]. From the third paragraph of his poem, Ritsos talks about the riot dog (literal translation):
And let's not forget Dick's monumentYes, our dog DickWho got killed by the guardsBecause he loved the exiles too muchLet's not forget Dick, comradesWho barked at nightBy the gates that faced the seaAnd fell asleep at the dawnAt freedom's bare feetWith the May beetle of the Morning StarOn his raised earNow Dick is sleeping in LemnosAlways showing his left toothMaybe the day after tomorrow we'll hear him againBarking joyfully in a demonstrationStrolling under our flagsHaving, hangning from his left toothA small sign "DOWN WITH THE TYRANTS"Dick, he was good"

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Messages In This Thread
Riot Dog - by Ed Jewett - 30-09-2011, 01:47 AM
Riot Dog - by Ed Jewett - 12-10-2011, 12:34 AM
Riot Dog - by Magda Hassan - 12-10-2011, 07:44 AM

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