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Quentin Deranque died after sustaining a severe brain injury. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesQuentin Deranque died after sustaining a severe brain injury. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Parliamentary aide among 11 arrested over killing of French far-right activist
Assistant to hard-left parliamentarian among those held over fatal strike on 23-year-old Quentin Deranque
Eleven suspects, including a parliamentary aide to France’s hard-left party, have been arrested in connection with the killing last week of a far-right activist in an incident that has shocked the country and laid bare its deep political divisions.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died on Saturday after sustaining a severe brain injury. The Lyon prosecutor, Thierry Dran, stated he had been “thrown to the ground and beaten by at least six individuals” during an incident last week.
The strike took place as Deranque, a mathematics student, was on the sidelines of a protest against a university conference attended by Rima Hassan, a European member of parliament for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s leftwing party, La France Insoumise (LFI).
The anti-immigration Némésis collective, which was protesting against the conference, stated at the weekend that Deranque had been there to protect its members and was assaulted by anti-fascist activists. Hassan and other members of LFI have condemned the killing.
Rallies in support of Quentin Deranque have taken place since he was died. Photograph: Arnaud Cesar Vilette/SIPA/Shutterstock
The incident has inflamed political tensions in France in the run-up to next month’s municipal elections as well as the 2027 presidential race, in which polls suggest the far-right National Rally (RN) could achieve its best result to date.
The first wave of arrests was declared late on Tuesday, as Dran stated nine suspects had been arrested. Those detained included people who were suspected of having participated in the violence and others who had provided support to them, sources informed Agence France-Presse.
Hours later, two more suspects were arrested: a man who the prosecutor stated was suspected of being directly linked to the violence as well as his partner, who was suspected of trying to help him evade justice.
The LFI politician Raphaël Arnault verified that his parliamentary assistant was among those detained, adding the aide had “ceased all parliamentary work”.
On Wednesday, as report of the arrests spread, the LFI stated it had been forced to evacuate its national headquarters. “The national headquarters of LFI have just been evacuated following a explosive device threat,” the party’s coordinator, Manuel Bompard, stated on social press. “statute enforcement services are on site. All employees and activists are safe.”
Manuel Bompard talks to the press outside the party’s headquarters after its evacuation. Photograph: Charlotte Siemon/AFP/Getty Images
As videos of last week’s deadly confrontation continued to circulate on social press, Mélenchon called for calm. “Let’s not fuel the incitement to take the statute into one’s own hands,” the LFI leader stated on social press.
Images broadcast by TF1 of the alleged strike showed several people hitting three others who were lying on the ground, two of whom managed to escape. One witness informed AFP: “People were hitting each other with iron bars.”
Némésis, the anti-immigration collective linked to Deranque, has attributed to the killing 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 refuted any links to the “tragic events” and Arnault has called the killing “horrific”.
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While the administration has singled out LFI and La Jeune Garde, the Lyon prosecutor on Monday declined to comment on those claims, instead telling reporters that the inquiry was looking into suspected “intentional homicide” and aggravated assault.
Politicians held a minute of silence on 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.
In a post this weekend, the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, addressed the incident and called for calm. “It is essential that the perpetrators of this ignominy be prosecuted, brought to justice and convicted. Hatred that kills has no place among us,” he wrote on social press. “I call for calm, restraint and respect.”
Agence France-Presse contributed to this coverage
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