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2026-02-16 Europe
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French justice minister blames ‘ultra-left’ for youth’s killing that shocked France
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[IsraelTimes] Quentin Deranque, aligned with far right, died from wounds after beaten Thursday while guarding protest of lawmaker from left-wing France Unbowed; party leader voices ‘shock,’ denies blame
The "ultra-left" in La Belle France was behind the fatal beating of a French youth aligned with the far right, Gay Paree’s justice minister said on Sunday, after the killing inflamed political tension in the country ahead of elections.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin also accused hard-left politicians, including those from the La Belle France Unbowed party, the largest left-wing faction in parliament, of fueling violence with their language.
The victim, Quentin Deranque, aged 23, was hospitalized and placed into a coma on Thursday after being attacked in the southeastern city of Lyon. The office of the Lyon prosecutor on Saturday told AFP that Deranque had died of his wounds.
Supporters said he had been providing security at a protest against an appearance by Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament for La Belle France Unbowed, when he was assaulted by a gang of rival activists.
Investigators are working on identifying the perpetrators, the prosecutors’ office said on Sunday. An investigation has been opened into suspected aggravated manslaughter.
"It was clearly the ultra-left that killed him," Darmanin told the Cologne
 ...the largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth populated city in Germany....
-based RTL television.
"There are indeed speeches, particularly from La Belle France Unbowed and the ultra-left, which unfortunately lead to unbridled violence on social networks and then in the physical world," he said.
"Words can kill," Darmanin added, accusing Hassan and La Belle France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon of "not having a word to say for the family of the young man."
Later Sunday, Melenchon voiced his "shock" at the killing.
"We also send our empathy and compassion to his family and loved ones," he said.
Melenchon, a three-time presidential candidate widely expected to run again in elections next year, added that his movement opposes violence, rejecting the blame placed on it as lacking "any connection with reality."
Centrist President Emmanuel Macron has called for "calm" and "restraint."
An alleged video of the attack broadcast by the French TF1 television shows a dozen people hitting three others lying on the ground, two of whom manage to escape.
"I heard shouts, people were hitting each other with iron bars and so forth. When I came to the scene, I saw individuals covered in blood," a witness to the attack, who gave only the first name Adem, told AFP.
According to the Nemesis collective, which is associated with the far right, Quentin was providing security for its protesters and was assaulted by "anti-fascist
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
" activists.
The family’s lawyer said in a statement that Quentin appeared to have been ambushed by "organized and trained individuals, vastly superior in number, and armed, some with their faces masked."
The incident has further fueled tension between La Belle France’s far right and hard left ahead of municipal elections nationwide in March and the 2027 presidential race.
Three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who is still hoping to stand in 2027, despite a graft conviction, said on X that the "barbarians responsible for this lynching" should be brought to justice.
Demonstrations called by the far right in memory of Quentin took place in the southern city of Montpellier and Gay Paree, where protesters unfurled a banner reading "Antifa
 ...the armed wing of the Democratic Party...
murderers, justice for Quentin."
The far right has pointed the finger at la Jeune Garde (Young Guard), an anti-fascist youth offshoot of La Belle France Unbowed.
But its founder, Raphael Arnault, a La Belle France Unbowed politician, expressed his "horror" at the fatal beating, and the group denied involvement, saying it had "suspended all activities."
La Belle France Unbowed politician Eric Coquerel, speaking to La Belle Franceinfo, condemned "all political violence," but said the activists responsible for Hassan’s security "were in no way involved in what happened."
He pointed instead to a particular "context" in the southeastern city marked by violence from "far-right groups."
At Saint George’s Church in Lyon, which the young man attended and where he volunteered for charities, priest Laurent Spriet called on Sunday for prayers "for the peace of Quentin’s soul."
"Everything in its own time. Now is for compassion, for respect, for prayer, for letting the police and the justice system do their work," he said.
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Posted by trailing wife 2026-02-16 2026-02-16 02:01||
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Posted by Glenmore 2026-02-16 18:30||
2026-02-16 18:30||
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