All key suspects arrested in fatal beating of French right-wing activist – media

Quentin Deranque succumbed to severe head injuries sustained in a brawl with suspected Antifa members in Lyon last month.

French authorities have detained two additional suspects over the recent fatal beating of right-wing activist Quentin Deranque in Lyon, with local media reporting that all principal suspects are now in custody. Eleven other individuals were arrested last month, some of whom are alleged to have links to a left-wing group.

Deranque, a 23-year-old mathematics student and member of the nationalist group Audace Lyon, died on February 14 from head injuries sustained two days earlier in a fight with suspected Antifa members. He had been acting as informal security for protesters from the right-wing women’s group Nemesis.

On Wednesday, AFP quoted an anonymous police source as saying that “we now believe we have all those who directly participated in the beating of Quentin Deranque.” The investigation is being handled by France’s Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate (SDAT), according to Le Figaro.

Several days after the fatal beating, French authorities arrested 11 individuals, seven of whom are suspected of participating in the assault, while the other four are accused of aiding and abetting them. Six of them have been charged with “voluntary homicide” and one with “complicity by instigation.”

Media reports have linked the suspects to the now-dissolved ultra-left group, Jeune Garde (Young Guard), founded by Raphael Arnault, an MP from the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party. Two of those arrested are believed to have worked as parliamentary assistants to the lawmaker.

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La France Insoumise has denied any connection to the crime and accused the authorities of “political manipulation.”

Commenting on Deranque’s death last month, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced the “climate of ideological hatred sweeping several nations.” Her remark drew a rebuke from French President Emmanuel Macron, who suggested that everyone must “stay in their own lane.”

Around the same time, the US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism posted a message on X, later shared by Washington’s embassy in France, warning that “violent radical leftism is on the rise.”

READ MORE: French right rallies over ‘lynching’ of activist: What to know

The comment sparked a diplomatic row between Paris and Washington, with US ambassador Charles ⁠Kushner summoned by the French Foreign Ministry. Several days later, Reuters, citing an anonymous source, reported that the envoy had called French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and pledged not to “interfere” in France’s domestic affairs.