The Greek Protest Dog
Greece has had its share of political unrest in the last few years, including the recent protests around "austerity measures" passed by the Greek parliament in response to the country's debt. Both police and news photographers began to notice a surprising trend in their protest shots here and over the last few yers: a tawny-colored dog, turning up over and over.The dog has been photographed regularly at protests over the last several years - lying down in front of of protest lines, at the sides of protestors being tear-gassed, facing off in front of flaming scenery.
There is some debate as to whether the protest dog pictured is one dog or several - some say that the original protest dog died in 2008 and is buried at an Athens university. Some identify him as Kanellos ("cinnamon"), others as Louk, short for Loukanikos, a kind of Greek sausage. Regardless, the riot dog(s) of Athens have been adopted as a much loved symbol of solidarity by Greek protestors.
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