France said to arrest 4, including far-left MP’s aide, over far-right activist’s killing

By AFP 17 February 2026, 8:58 pm

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Demonstrators hold placards reading "Jeune Garde - an antifascist group - dissolution, Jeune Garde in jail" as they attend a rally after the fatal beating in Lyon of a 23-year-old Quentin, in Paris on February 15, 2026. French President Emmanuel Macron on February 14, 2026 urged calm and restraint after the fatal beating of a 23-year-old French youth aligned with the far-right on the sidelines of a conference by a hard-left lawmaker in the southeastern city of Lyon. The death of the young man -- identified only as Quentin -- has intensified tensions between France's far-right and hard-left who are both eyeing 2027 presidential elections. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

French authorities arrest four suspects over the killing last week of a far-right activist, the prosecutor for the southeastern city of Lyon says.

Quentin Deranque, 23, died after sustaining a severe brain injury when he was attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a far-right protest against a left-wing politician speaking at a university in Lyon.

A source following the case says an assistant of a member of parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party was among those detained.

The incident on Thursday has fueled tension between the far right and far left ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet of winning.