Tensions in France ahead of the march for the nationalist student killed in the fight. Macron urges calm
A tribute in Paris to nationalist activist Quentin Deranque. PHOTO: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Profimedia
The march is scheduled to take place on Saturday, under increased security, in memory of a far-right militant killed in a fight by members of the extreme left in Lyon (centre-west), according to AFP.
Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old student, died after receiving several blows on February 12, being attacked by a group of at least six people wearing hoods, writes Agerpres.
The march in his memory is planned for Saturday evening in Lyon, where an “extremely important” deployment of police and gendarmes has been deployed, with authorities expecting clashes on the occasion.
Six suspects, charged with murder
“It is a moment of silence and respect for our young compatriot who was killed,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of the Paris Agricultural Show.
“In the Republic, no violence is legitimate,” he stressed. “There is no room for militias, wherever they come from,” he added.
The French president also announced a meeting with the government next week to “do a full analysis of the violent action groups that operate in the country and have links to political parties, whatever they may be.”
Six individuals suspected of participating in the assault that resulted in the young man's death were charged with “voluntary manslaughter” and a parliamentary assistant to a radical left MP was charged with “complicity”.
The administration of US President Donald Trump on Friday denounced the political violence of the extreme left, demanding that those responsible for the death of Quentin Deranque be brought to justice.
Dispute between Macron and Meloni
Quentin Deranque's death also sparked a verbal spat between Emmanuel Macron and far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“The death of a boy in his early 20s, attacked by groups linked to left-wing extremism in a climate of ideological hatred that is spreading in several countries, is a wound for the whole of Europe,” Meloni wrote in a post on the X platform on Thursday.
Emmanuel Macron responded on Friday in a sharp way to stop “commenting on what happens to others”.
“Intervening (…) to express my solidarity with the French people in a matter that obviously concerns all of them does not constitute interference. I am sorry that Macron did not understand that”, reacted the head of the Italian government.
“I see a climate that I don't like, I see it in Italy, I see it in France, I see it in the United States,” said Giorgia Meloni, who referred to the “lead years” between 1969 and 1980, in which Italy was the scene of attacks committed by radical Marxist organizations, such as the Red Brigades, but also by extreme right-wing organizations. Members of the Red Brigades then found refuge in France, AFP recalls.
