What is Pose Ton CRS?

Pose Ton CRS is a French photoshop meme that uses a cutout of a CRS riot officer kicking a woman at a Paris café in April 2016, which users paste into other images under the hashtag #PoseTonCRS.

Where did Pose Ton CRS come from?

The source photo was taken by freelance photojournalist Jan Schmidt-Whitley during a labor-reform protest in Paris on April 14, 2016, and posted to his Facebook page the same day.

What does Pose Ton CRS mean?

It translates roughly to "Put Your CRS" and plays on "posé," a ballet term for a step onto a flat foot with a straight knee, which is why many edits put the officer into dance photographs.

How do you use Pose Ton CRS?

Drop the cutout template of the kicking officer into any image where his raised leg looks like a dance step or a slapstick entry, and tag the result #PoseTonCRS, which was the common convention in the April 2016 trend.

Is Pose Ton CRS still popular?

No. The meme peaked over roughly 48 hours in mid-April 2016 while the French labor-reform protests were in the news, and faded once that story moved on.

Pose Ton CRS

2016photoshop memedead

Published October 16, 2026

During a Paris street protest against labor reform on April 14, 2016, a French CRS riot officer kicked a woman at a café terrace, and a frame of his raised leg from freelance photographer Jan Schmidt-Whitley was clipped out and turned into a photoshop template the same night. By the next morning, Twitter users were pasting the cutout officer into ballet stills and album covers under the hashtag #PoseTonCRS.

photoshop memes protest memes french memes exploitable templates hashtag memes

Overview

Pose Ton CRS edits start from a transparent PNG of the officer with his leg raised mid-kick, which users drop into other photographs to riff on the French ballet term "posé"2. Jokes feed on the gap between his aggressive stance and whatever elegant or absurd scene he gets inserted into, from dance stills to album covers3.

The hashtag #PoseTonCRS gathered the edits on Twitter in the 48 hours after the kick, and French papers covered the trend as a textbook photoshop meme while the labor-reform protests were still ongoing4. Comparisons to the 2011 Casually Pepper Spray Everything Cop image, which came out of the UC Davis Occupy protests, were made in the French coverage7.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Facebook (source photo) / Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

@JulesLmeghribi

Date

2016

On April 14, 2016, officers of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité clashed with demonstrators in central Paris during a street protest against the government's proposed labor code reform3. A 24-year-old student named Tamara, who said she had been sitting at a café terrace nearby, approached the line and confronted officers before one of them kicked her to the ground; BFMTV filmed the moment6. The exact frame of the officer's raised leg was captured by freelance photojournalist Jan Schmidt-Whitley, who posted it to Facebook that day with a short account of what led up to the kick1. His photo was shared more than 3,000 times in the following 72 hours7.

How It Spread

Hours after Schmidt-Whitley's photo went up, Twitter user @JulesLmeghribi posted a clean cutout template of the officer against a transparent background, which triggered the first run of photoshopped parodies on the microblogging site under the hashtag #PoseTonCRS2. The hashtag doubled as a pun on "posé," the ballet term for stepping onto a flat foot with a straight knee7.

By the morning of April 15, the trend was being written up by major French outlets. 20 Minutes aggregated the standout edits under the hashtag3, Le Monde's Big Browser blog analyzed how the kick turned viral4, and Les Inrocks ran a "meme of the week" piece calling the officer the laughingstock of the French web (translated from French)5.

The same day, BuzzFeed identified the woman as Tamara, a 24-year-old student, and interviewed her about the kick; she said she intended to file a complaint against the police6. Coverage treated the edits and the complaint as part of one story about the labor-reform protests, which gave the meme a short, event-tied life rather than a long one.

Timeline

2016-04-14

A CRS officer kicks Tamara, a 24-year-old student, at a Paris café terrace during a labor-reform protest; BFMTV films it and Jan Schmidt-Whitley photographs the raised-leg frame and posts it to Facebook.

2016-04-14

Twitter user @JulesLmeghribi uploads a cutout template of the officer, launching the hashtag #PoseTonCRS and the first round of photoshopped parodies.

2016-04-15

20 Minutes, Le Monde and other French outlets cover the hashtag as a viral photoshop meme; BuzzFeed names the woman and reports she plans to file a police complaint.

2016-04-16

Les Inrocks publishes a "meme of the week" writeup of the trend.

2016-04-17

Schmidt-Whitley's original Facebook photo passes 3,000 shares within 72 hours of being posted.

How to Use This Meme

Grab the cutout template of the officer with his leg out, drop him into any image where his pose reads as a dance step, a kick in a sports photo, or a slapstick entry into a famous painting, and tag the result #PoseTonCRS. The pun hinges on the French ballet term "posé," so dance photography was the common convention in the first days of the trend5.