Wednesday, February 18 2026 -French authorities on Tuesday, February 17, arrested nine suspects over the k!lling of a far-right activist.
Quentin Deranque, 23, di£d last week after sustaining a
severe brain injury when he was attacked by at least six people last week on
the sidelines of a far-right protest against a left-wing politician speaking at
a university in the southeastern city of Lyon.
The incident has fuelled tension between France’s far right
and hard left ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential
race, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its
best chance yet of winning the top job.
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran announced the arrests of four
suspects, then shortly afterwards that of five others, bringing the total to
nine.
A source following the case, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said an assistant to Raphael Arnault, a member of parliament from
the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, was among the first four detained.
Arnault reacted by saying he was firing the assistant.
The head of the LFI, Jean-Luc Melenchon said that those who
had attacked Deranque had “dishonoured” themselves by acting with apparent
lethal intent.
“When it comes to violence, whether it be defensive or
offensive… not all blows are allowed,” he said.
An anti-immigration collective called Nemesis, which claims
to fight violence against Western women, said Deranque had been at the protest
in Lyon to protect its members.
Nemesis has blamed the k!lling on La Jeune Garde (Young
Guard), an anti-fascist youth group co-founded by Arnault before he was elected
to parliament.
La Jeune Garde — which was dissolved in June — has denied
any links to the “tragic events”, while Arnault has called the k!lling
horrific.
On Monday, Feb. 16, parliament speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said
one of Arnault’s assistants had been banned from the chamber after being
mentioned by witnesses.
Thursday’s attack has been described as “a pitched battle
between members of the far left and the far right”, according to another source
close to the probe.
A video broadcast by TF1 television of the alleged attack
shows a dozen people hitting three others lying on the ground, two of whom
manage to escape.
A witness told AFP “people were hitting each other with iron
bars”.
Lawmakers held a minute of silence Tuesday afternoon at
France’s National Assembly in memory of Deranque, while a march is expected to
be held in Lyon next Saturday in his honour.
While the government has singled out the LFI and La Jeune
Garde, the Lyon prosecutor on Monday declined to comment on those claims, only
specifying the incident was being investigated as a voluntary homicide and
aggravated assault.
On the far right, the presidential hopeful from the RN,
three-time contender Marine Le Pen, has condemned the “barbarians responsible
for this lynching”.
Her lieutenant, Jordan Bardella, who heads her party, said
after the arrests that the LFI’s Melenchon had “moral and political
responsibility” for what happened, claiming he had “opened the doors of the
National Assembly to suspected murd£rers”.
Opinion polls put the far right in the lead for the
presidency in 2027, when centrist President Emmanuel Macron will have to step
down after a maximum two consecutive terms in office.
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