Student death puts French far-left under pressure
France’s radical left is under pressure after the killing of a student in Lyon was blamed on “anti-fascist” militants.
Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old maths student and nationalist activist, died on Saturday, two days after being beaten up on the street by a group of young men.
On Thursday afternoon he had given support to a hard-right feminist collective Némésis, which staged a small protest against a left-wing politician’s visit to Lyon’s Institute of Political Studies (IEP), commonly known as Sciences-Po.
In a tense political atmosphere ahead of important municipal elections next month, all eyes on Monday were on the radical left party France Unbowed (LFI) and a banned security outfit La Jeune Garde (Young Guard) that in the past helped provide protection at its rallies.
La Jeune Garde was created in 2018 by Raphaël Arnault, who is now one of LFI’s 71 deputies in the National Assembly. It was banned last year following accusations of fomenting violence. The group has denied involvement.
Read more: BBC