The “ultra-left” in France was behind the deadly beating of a French youth aligned with the far proper, the Justice Minister mentioned on Sunday (February 15, 2026), after the killing infected political stress within the nation forward of elections.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin additionally accused hard-left politicians, together with from the France Unbowed (LFI) get together, the most important left-wing faction in parliament, of fuelling violence with their language.
The sufferer, Quentin Deranque, aged 23, had been hospitalised and positioned right into a coma on Thursday (February 12, 2026) after being attacked within the southeastern metropolis of Lyon. The workplace of the Lyon prosecutor on Saturday (February 14, 2026) advised AFP Deranque had died of his wounds.
Supporters mentioned he had been offering safety at a protest towards an look by Rima Hassan, an LFI member of the European Parliament, when he was assaulted by a gang of rival activists.
Investigators are engaged on figuring out the perpetrators, the prosecutors’ workplace mentioned Sunday (February 15, 2026). An investigation has been opened into suspected aggravated manslaughter
“It was clearly the ultra-left that killed him,” Mr. Darmanin advised RTL tv.
“There are certainly speeches, notably from France Unbowed and the ultra-left, which sadly result in unbridled violence on social networks after which within the bodily world,” he mentioned.
“Phrases can kill,” Darmanin added, accusing Hassan and LFI chief Jean-Luc Melenchon of “not having a phrase to say for the household of the younger man”.
‘Compassion, respect’
Later Sunday (February 15, 2026), Melenchon voiced his “shock” on the killing. “We additionally ship our empathy and compassion to his household and family members,” he mentioned.
Mr. Melenchon, a three-time presidential candidate extensively anticipated to run once more in elections subsequent yr, added that his motion opposes violence, rejecting the blame positioned on it as missing “any reference to actuality”.
An alleged video of the assault broadcast by TF1 tv exhibits a dozen individuals hitting three others mendacity on the bottom, two of whom handle to flee.
“I heard shouts, individuals have been hitting one another with iron bars and so forth. After I got here to the scene, I noticed people coated in blood,” a witness to the assault, who gave solely the primary identify Adem, advised AFP.
In keeping with the Nemesis collective, which is near the far proper, Quentin was offering safety for its protesters and was assaulted by “anti-fascist” activists.
The household’s lawyer mentioned in a press release Quentin appeared to have been ambushed by “organised and skilled people, vastly superior in quantity and armed, some with their faces masked”.
Pre-election stress
The incident has additional fuelled stress between France’s far proper and onerous left forward of municipal elections nationwide in March and the 2027 presidential race.
Three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who continues to be hoping to face in 2027 regardless of a graft conviction, mentioned on X that the “barbarians chargeable for this lynching” ought to be dropped at justice.
Demonstrations known as by the far proper in reminiscence of Quentin passed off within the southern metropolis of Montpellier and Paris, the place protesters unfurled a banner studying “antifa murderers, justice for Quentin”.
The far proper has pointed the finger at la Jeune Garde (Younger Guard), an anti-fascist youth offshoot of the LFI.
However its founder Raphael Arnault, an LFI lawmaker, expressed his “horror” on the deadly beating, and the group denied involvement, saying it had “suspended all actions”.
LFI lawmaker Eric Coquerel, talking to Franceinfo, condemned “all political violence” however mentioned the activists chargeable for Hassan’s safety “have been under no circumstances concerned in what occurred”.
He pointed as a substitute to a specific “context” within the southeastern metropolis marked by violence from “far-right teams”.
Centrist President Emmanuel Macron has known as for “calm” and “restraint”.
At Saint George’s Church in Lyon, which the younger man attended and the place he volunteered for charities, priest Laurent Spriet known as on Sunday for prayers “for the peace of Quentin’s soul”.
“Every part in its personal time. Now’s for compassion, for respect, for prayer, for letting the police and the justice system do their work,” he mentioned.
Printed – February 16, 2026 12:49 am IST