Greece's Law 4000 and the 1958 yogurt protest phenomenon

In the summer of 1958, Athens experienced a unique social phenomenon where youth used yogurt as a tool of protest and disapproval. Inspired by the American practice of pieing, young people in neighborhoods such as Kypseli and Thiseio began throwing yogurt at targets as a form of social expression. Because yogurt was inexpensive, widely available, and considered less likely to cause serious injury than other objects, it became a common weapon for these spontaneous attacks.

To address this rising trend of perceived indiscipline, the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis introduced a legislative measure. On September 4, 1958, Minister of Justice Konstantinos Kallias presented a bill to Parliament that became known as Law 4000. While the law was aimed at suppressing the behavior of the so-called ‘Teddy Boys’ (or ‘tedimpoies’ in the local linguistic adaptation), Kallias notably avoided using that specific term in the official legislative text, citing its negative connotations.