Poo Prank

The Sun reports on this very odd form of political protest:

GERMAN police are hunting for a gang who have been going around Berlin sticking tiny American flags into dog poo. Officers say they are baffled by the bizarre behaviour - which does not break any laws - and have stepped-up patrols to catch the gang.
Cops had initially thought the jokers were protesting about the war in Iraq, according to iol.co.nz. But the pranks continued throughout George W Bush's re-election leaving detectives without a clear motive.
Police spokesperson Reiner Kuechler said: "We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act. But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red-handed."
Park boss Josef Oettl added: "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2000 to 3000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time."

It seems like the real criminals here are the people who aren't cleaning up after their dogs.

Gross Politics Pranks

Posted on Wed Jan 19, 2005


Comments

heh, how could it be a crime to put a flag in poo?
Posted by Gunnar  on  Wed Jan 19, 2005  at  07:58 PM
Well, every little bit of protest helps, I guess.

If it's not a crime, how can they justify sending out extra patrols to catch these guys? Oh, silly me, forgot for a second that we live in a corporate/fascist world where the powerful are allowed to ignore the law and do as they wish. Woops.
Posted by Barghest  on  Wed Jan 19, 2005  at  08:45 PM
It sounds like a G.I. prank to me. Why not claim some MORE "soil" for the U.S.? I wonder how many G.I.'s are left in Berlin, now? Sure played my share of pranks when I was there in the '70s, but none this good!
Posted by stork  on  Wed Jan 19, 2005  at  11:57 PM
Perhaps, Barghest, just as it is wrong to be overly anal about enforcing laws on citizens, it is wrong to be overly anal about enforcing laws on law enforcement.
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Thu Jan 20, 2005  at  12:25 AM
I'm confused, as usual. Are these guys placing the dog crap about, or are they just terrorizing Western Civilization (is that an Oxy, Moron?) by placing small American Flags (which were probably made in China, by the way) in dog crap that they have hunted down? Truly, which action is the more bizzare? The placing of American flags in dog crap, or waiting on a park bench for Herr Rover to pinch a loaf (a doberman pincher?) so they can plant Old Glory? Perhaps, they have their own Doggie, a partner-in-crime, who does his part so they can doo theirs. The mind reels.
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Thu Jan 20, 2005  at  10:05 AM
Unless Europe has changed a lot since I was there, you don't have to wait around or search around to find piles of dog doo. In fact, unless you're extremely careful, you don't have to walk far before you step in some.

I think it's obvious that the flag project is a brilliant protest against all the people who let their dogs dump on the sidewalk and don't clean up after them. These mutt owners are obviously so insensitive that having to walk through heaps of ordure all day doesn't bother them. So what's the most offensive possible sight to most people (outside of the U.S.) these days? The flag of Yankee imperialism, of course. These desperate Berliners have finally realized that the only way to get these heaps of hooey cleaned up is to convert them into tiny symbols of American aggression.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Thu Jan 20, 2005  at  08:58 PM
Big Gary C - I think you've got it pegged. Makes a lot more sense than my original opinion of a G.I. prank. Soldiers are different now, too. And so are a lot of German cities, now that we're gone from most. Their local economies virtually depended on the American dollars spent there. Too bad.
Posted by stork  on  Thu Jan 20, 2005  at  11:08 PM
>>>Perhaps, Barghest, just as it is wrong to be overly anal about enforcing laws on citizens, it is wrong to be overly anal about enforcing laws on law enforcement.<<<

You may have missed my point. If the authorities are sending out extra patrols to catch the poo-flaggers, that means police have to be taken off of other assignments and put on Poo Patrol. That means either other crimes are going uninvestigated and patrols are going unpatrolled, or officers are being assigned extra shifts.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, remember? That extra manpower has to come from somewhere.

That means either officers are being taken off of other assignments or taxpayer money is being used to pay for more shifts.

To investigate something that's not a crime.

Why? Because the authorities are so afraid of insulting the Big Bad American Empire that they'd rather waste money and police effort on a bunch of pranksters that aren't even committing crimes?
Posted by Barghest  on  Fri Jan 21, 2005  at  04:23 AM
From my times in Germany, I think it is more likely that the poo-flagers are making a comment about Americans. I enjoyed my time and many of hte people were nice but there was a significant group who hated anything American, the people, the government, the language, the cars, anything. I'm not sure but it might have something to do with WW II, or maybe WW I. The German government at least turned a blind eye and according to some information it helped and supported the anti-American groups. As far as bending over backwards to not offend the American Government, it is more likely that the German government bends over backwards to tolerate anti-American activity especially now.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Fri Jan 21, 2005  at  10:47 PM
Perhaps some kind soul is merely flagging the poop so people can avoid stepping in it?
By the way, pooprotest.com has Bush Flags that can be cut out..
Posted by Howard  on  Fri Jan 28, 2005  at  11:32 AM
It
Posted by Holger  on  Fri Feb 18, 2005  at  01:56 AM
Obviously this is the work of 'artists'. Glad to see that agit-prop is still alive and well.

So, who'll be the first to start selling bush-dog-poo flags on line? I'll take a hundred, there's plenty of that sh*t around my way.
Posted by Gallbladder  on  Tue Nov 22, 2005  at  06:05 AM
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