French activist’s killing leads to political furor, 11 arrests and a bomb threat

French police investigating the beating of a far-right militant who died of brain injuries have arrested 11 people, prosecutors said on Wednesday, in a case adding fuel to long-standing divides in the country’s domestic politics ahead of presidential elections in 2027.

Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old student described as a fervent nationalist, died in a hospital on Saturday. He was beaten two days earlier by a group of people in the city of Lyon, in fighting that erupted between far-left and far-right supporters on the margins of a student meeting where a far-left lawmaker, Rima Hassan, was a keynote speaker.

An autopsy found that Deranque suffered a fractured skull and fatal brain injuries, according to Lyon’s prosecutor, Thierry Dran. He launched the police investigation for homicide and other potential criminal charges.

Dran’s office said police detained a man and a woman on Wednesday morning, with nine other people taken into custody on Tuesday night.

Shortly after Dran’s announcement, the Paris headquarters of the far-left France Unbowed received a bomb threat and had to be evacuated until the all-clear was given after police secured the scene.

Parliamentary aide among those arrested

Videos of the confrontation in Lyon last week were widely shared on social media. According to multiple reports, Deranque was said to be providing support for a feminist group that believes migrants are driving a crime wave in France.

Hassan, a French-Palestinian who was born in a Syrian refugee camp, is a European Parliament lawmaker for France Unbowed. In a post on X after the attack on Deranque but before he died of his injuries, Hassan expressed “horror” over the violence and condemned it.

But Deranque’s death triggered a storm of recriminations, mostly blaming France Unbowed. Its opponents accuse it of fomenting violence and tensions with its combative politics, which include fierce criticism of Israel.

Last year, Hassan was a passenger on a flotilla, along with activist Greta Thunberg and others, that sought to deliver aid to Gaza but was ultimately intercepted by the Israeli military.

France Unbowed is led by veteran hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former Trotskyist who stood for the presidency in 2012, 2017 and 2022 and failed to advance to the decisive run-off round.

He is preparing for another expected run next year, when President Emmanuel Macron ‘s second and last term ends.

Both he and Macron have appealed for calm in the wake of the killing.

Melenchon insisted Tuesday that France Unbowed bore no blame for the tragedy in Lyon, saying: “We have absolutely nothing to do, either directly or indirectly, with the death of this young Deranque.”

But the 11 people in police custody include the parliamentary aide of a France Unbowed lawmaker, French media reported.

The lawmaker, Raphael Arnault, confirmed the aide’s arrest in a post on X without giving the cause. Arnault said he is ending the aide’s contract.

Far-left and far-right factions harbour long-standing, intense and sometimes violent disregard for each other in France, although deaths in clashes between them have been rare in recent decades.

France is holding municipal elections next month. With campaigning in full swing, opponents of France Unbowed on the right and far-right laid blame for Deranque’s death on Melenchon’s party, accusing it of fuelling violence and appealing to voters not to support it.

Jordan Bardella, party president of the National Rally, has said Mélenchon had “opened the doors of the National Assembly to presumed murderers.”

Criticism also came from prominent figures on the left, including former French president Francois Hollande. He said the mainstream left, including his Socialist Party, must not team up again with Melenchon’s party for the upcoming elections, as they did in the past.

“The relationship with France Unbowed is over,” he said.