Stray protester: Sausage the Greek riot dog

There he is, yelping with delight as the youths start hurling chunks of paving stones, barking his admonition at a cordon of cops fending off petrol bombs, sneezing as he scampers through the tear gas.

Meet Sausage the riot dog, an amiable ginger mongrel resident of Syntagma Square in central Athens, who doesn't mind if you show up for a day of mayhem as long as he can join in. Whenever there's a demonstration, Sausage is there, always taking the side of the protesters and lending a sense of comic relief to the occasionally violent proceedings.

It's made him a local celebrity. He's appeared on just about every newspaper in Greece and wagged his tail on TV screens and websites around the world. On Wednesday, when state workers marched against government cuts, Sausage was in the front, egging on the crowd with a hearty “Gav!” (Greek for “Woof!”), tripping up baton-wielding officers as they charged down the steps.

Some people call him Kanellos – Cinnamon. The Athens municipality, which has known him since 2006 as Dog Number 1842, prefers Loukanikos – Sausage.