VIDEO: Turkey’s May Day dog kicked by officer, chases police

ISTANBUL

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After a Turkish policeman kicked him during a May Day demo in Istanbul, a stray dog has chased a patrol car, in scenes that went viral on social media.

The stray dog was kicked away by a policeman who was detaining a protester near Taksim Square on May 1. Soon after the incident, the dog started to chase a police car at the square, barking.



As the episode triggered an avalanche of comments on Turkish social media during the tense May Day, several users claimed that the dog was “Garip,” who had found fame after being photographed during the Gezi Park protests in 2013.
The protesters who took to the streets to protect Gezi Park, which is adjacent to Taksim Square, from a planned development project, had tried to help Garip the dog when his eyes were affected by police tear gas.

In Turkish, “garip” means “poor” or “strange.”