#JeSuisChien: Twittersphere Mourns French Police Dog Killed in Raid

A top-trending hashtag on Twitter was used to grieve.

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The massive French police raid in the suburbs of Paris Wednesday designed to catch the mastermind of Friday's attacks left a pair of terrorist suspects dead. But the fatality trending most on Twitter had four legs, not two: Diesel, a French police Belgian shepherd killed during the raid.

Those mourning the dog used the hashtag #JeSuisChien, a play on the #JeSuisCharlie hashtag popular after last January's massacre at the French satirical magazine (the new one literally translates to #IAmDog.) Below are some of the tweets:

https://twitter.com/bendepear/status/666984627504939008

The massive French police raid in the suburbs of Paris Wednesday designed to catch the mastermind of Friday’s attacks left a pair of terrorist suspects dead. But the fatality trending most on Twitter had four legs, not two: Diesel, a French police Belgian shepherd killed during the raid.

Those mourning the dog used the hashtag #JeSuisChien, a play on the #JeSuisCharlie hashtag popular after last January’s massacre at the French satirical magazine (the new one literally translates to #IAmDog.) Below are some of the tweets:

“Diesel will find a new, entirely nice master.”

Others were more critical of the hashtag:

“This hashtag is abuse. There’s been 129 deaths, I remind you. It’s a dog. #JeSuisChien”

“The internet is great … Every day innocents are killed … And people cry for a dog.”

Photo credit: Police Nationale via Twitter

Megan Alpert is a fellow at Foreign Policy. Her previous bylines have included The Guardian, Guernica Daily, and Earth Island Journal. Twitter: @megan_alpert

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