Quebec police draw fire over Chuck Norris photo

MONTREAL• A photo of gun-toting movie star Chuck Norris displayed on a Quebec City police van during G7 summit protests last summer has prompted an ethics complaint from a university professor.

Francis Dupuis-déri, a Université du Québec à Montréal political science professor who took part in the protests, said in an interview Thursday that police were seeking to intimidate and threaten protesters with the violent image.

Dupuis-déri’s complaint, filed Wednesday with Quebec’s police ethics board, includes video of a June 8 protest in which the photo of Norris with a gun in each hand is seen posted to the door of a police van used to transport an arrested protester. Dupuis-déri said he identified the nine officers named in the complaint by their badge numbers.

“I consider that to drive around in a van, with a photo of Chuck Norris who is pointing guns towards the public, is highly problematic,” he said, adding that the action undermined public trust in the police.

Images of the action film star are widely shared online. The Norris memes typically include absurd exaggerations about the actor’s strength and ingenuity. “Death once had a near-chuck Norris experience,” reads one.

The image used by Quebec City police did not include any text. Dupuis-déri says the photo is from a 1985 movie starring Norris, Invasion USA, in which the actor saves the United States from communist guerrillas. He accuses the police of drawing a parallel between protesters and the communists.

Representatives from the Quebec City police and the mayor’s office declined to comment, citing the ethics investigation.

The next step for DupuisDéri’s complaint is for the ethics board to conduct a preliminary examination to determine whether to refer the matter to conciliation, to order an investigation or to close the file.