France arrests nine over far-right activist’s killing 

Police in France have arrested nine suspects, including an aide to a far-left lawmaker, over the killing of a far-right activist in the southeastern city of Lyon, according to a prosecutor.

The arrests come as France mourns Quentin Deranque, 23, who was beaten to death last week by far-left activists outside a Lyon venue where Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan was speaking.

The incident has jolted France’s political class and fuelled tensions between the far-right and far-left ahead of municipal elections in March and the presidential race in 2027.

Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran announced the arrests of four suspects, followed shortly after by five more, bringing the total to nine.

The AFP news agency, citing a source following the case, said six of the detainees are suspected of participating in the beating, while three are suspected of aiding them. Seven were men, and two were women, the source told the agency.

An assistant to Raphael Arnault, a lawmaker of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, was among the first four detained. Arnault said the aide had “stopped all parliamentary work”.

“It is now up to the investigation to determine responsibility”, he added on X.

The head of the LFI, Jean-Luc Melenchon, said those who had attacked Deranque had “dishonoured” themselves by acting with apparent lethal intent.

“When it comes to violence, whether it be defensive or offensive… not all blows are allowed,” he said.

The beating of Deranque took place on Thursday, on the sidelines of a far-right protest against Hassan’s appearance in Lyon. An anti-immigration collective called Nemesis said Deranque had been at the protest in Lyon to protect its members.

Nemesis has blamed the killing on La Jeune Garde (The 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 denied any links to the “tragic events”, while Arnault has called the killing horrific.

According to the AFP, another source close to the probe described Thursday’s attack as “a pitched battle between members of the far left and the far right”.

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

A witness told AFP that “people were hitting each other with iron bars”.

Lawmakers 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.

While the government has singled out the LFI and La Jeune Garde, the Lyon prosecutor on Monday declined to comment on those claims, only specifying that the incident was being investigated as a voluntary homicide and aggravated assault.

On the far right, the presidential hopeful from the National Rally, three-time contender Marine Le Pen, has condemned the “barbarians responsible for this lynching”.

Her lieutenant, Jordan Bardella, who heads her party, said after the arrests that the LFI’s Melenchon had “moral and political responsibility” for what happened, claiming he had “opened the doors of the National Assembly to suspected murderers”.

Opinion polls put the far right in the lead for the presidency in 2027, when centrist President Emmanuel Macron will have to step down after the maximum two consecutive terms in office.