A 7-year-old police dog named Diesel was killed during a series of terror raids in the Paris suburb of St Denis overnight.
The Belgian Shepherd was shot by terror suspects holed up in a flat at around 5am France time, shortly after SWAT teams stormed the building.
Five police officers were injured during the raids, and two of the suspects – including a female suicide bomber, rumoured to be the cousin of suspected mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud – also died.
French police confirmed the news of Diesel’s death on Twitter:
[INFO] Diesel, malinois de 7 ans, chienne d’assaut du #RAID a été tuée par les terroristes dans l’opération en cours #SaintDenis
— Police Nationale (@PNationale) November 18, 2015
Shortly after they posted a tribute to Diesel, with the words: “Assault and explosives search dogs: indispensable in the missions of the operators of the #RAID.”
Les chiens d’assaut et de recherche d’explosifs: indispensables dans les missions des opérateurs du #RAID pic.twitter.com/vb5lGjnwjO
— Police Nationale (@PNationale) November 18, 2015
#JeSuisChien began trending on Twitter in memoriam for Diesel, but as the BBC found out when they tracked down the person who started the hashtag, it was actually meant to be “in jest”. (It literally translates to #IAmDog”.)
“I wanted it to be a little bit funny because all the websites were about it,” Ashley, 24, told them, referring to the fact that dozens of media outlets were reporting on it. “But many are using it seriously.”
“Every trouble has a hashtag like #JeSuis. If an old guy has something wrong, it will be #JeSuisOldGuy.”
Despite mocking it, the French national, who lives near Paris, doesn’t believe coverage of Diesel’s death was overblown. “The dog is a human’s best friend. It was an innocent, so a lot of people were disgusted by this.”
RIP Diesel.
This really hurts my heart ?? Rest in doggy heaven you beautiful, innocent creature #JeSuisChien pic.twitter.com/jAHF6LEjdz
— Chloé (@chloe_mayyy) November 18, 2015
Image: Twitter.
