‘Ultra-left’ behind killing of man providing security at far-right protest, French justice minister says

Demonstrators wave French national flags as they gather at Place de la Sorbonne in Paris for a rally after the fatal beating in Lyon of a 23-year-old man Quentin Deranque, on February 15. The deadly beating of the man aligned with the far-right has inflamed political tensions within France. Photo / Guillaume Baptiste, AFP

The “ultra-left” in France was behind the fatal beating of a French man aligned with the far-right, the justice minister said today, after the killing inflamed political tensions in the country ahead of elections.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin also accused hard-left politicians, including from the France Unbowed (LFI) party, the largest left-wing faction in parliament, of fuelling violence with their language.

The victim, Quentin Deranque, 23, had been hospitalised and placed into a coma on Friday after being attacked in the southeastern city of Lyon. The office of the Lyon prosecutor yesterday told AFP that Deranque had died of his wounds.

Supporters said he had been providing security at a protest against an appearance by Rima Hassan, an LFI member of the European Parliament, when he was assaulted by a gang of rival activists.

Investigators are working on identifying the perpetrators, the prosecutors’ office said today. An investigation has been opened into suspected aggravated manslaughter

“It was clearly the ultra-left that killed him,” Darmanin told RTL television.

“There are indeed speeches, particularly from France Unbowed and the ultra-left, which unfortunately lead to unbridled violence on social networks and then in the physical world,” he said.

“Words can kill,” Darmanin added, accusing Hassan and LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon of “not having a word to say for the family of the young man”.

‘Compassion, respect’

Later, Melenchon voiced his “shock” at the killing.

“We also send our empathy and compassion to his family and loved ones,” he said.

Melenchon, a three-time presidential candidate widely expected to run again in elections next year, added that his movement opposes violence, rejecting the blame placed on it as lacking “any connection with reality”.

An alleged video of the attack broadcast by TF1 television shows a dozen people hitting three others lying on the ground, two of whom manage to escape.

“I heard shouts, people were hitting each other with iron bars and so forth. When I came to the scene, I saw individuals covered in blood,” a witness to the attack, who gave only the first name Adem, told AFP.

According to the Nemesis collective, which is close to the far-right, Deranque was providing security for its protesters and was assaulted by “anti-fascist” activists.

The family’s lawyer said in a statement that Deranque appeared to have been ambushed by “organised and trained individuals, vastly superior in number and armed, some with their faces masked”.

Pre-election tension

The incident has further fuelled tension between France’s far-right and far-left ahead of municipal elections nationwide in March and the 2027 presidential race.

Three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who is still hoping to stand in 2027 despite a graft conviction, said on X that the “barbarians responsible for this lynching” should be brought to justice.

Demonstrations called by the far-right in memory of Deranque took place in the southern city of Montpellier and Paris, where protesters unfurled a banner reading “antifa murderers, justice for Quentin”.

The far-right has pointed the finger at la Jeune Garde (Young Guard), an anti-fascist youth offshoot of the LFI.

But its founder Raphael Arnault, an LFI lawmaker, expressed his “horror” at the fatal beating, and the group denied involvement, saying it had “suspended all activities”.

LFI lawmaker Eric Coquerel, speaking to Franceinfo, condemned “all political violence” but said the activists responsible for Hassan’s security “were in no way involved in what happened”.

He pointed instead to a particular “context” in the southeastern city marked by violence from “far-right groups”.

Centrist President Emmanuel Macron has called for “calm” and “restraint”.

At Saint George’s Church in Lyon, which the man attended and where he volunteered for charities, priest Laurent Spriet called for prayers “for the peace of Quentin’s soul”.

“Everything in its own time. Now is for compassion, for respect, for prayer, for letting the police and the justice system do their work,” he said.

-Agence France-Presse