France arrests nine in right-wing activist's death

DW News · Feb 18, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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French authorities arrested nine suspects on Tuesday over the killing last week of far-right activist, Quentin Deranque. Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran announced the arrests of four suspects, then shortly afterwards that of five others, bringing the total to nine. One of the suspects includes an assistant to a hard-left member of parliament, AFP news agency said, citing sources. Six of the detainees are suspected of having participated in the beating and three of aiding them, the source said, according to AFP. Quentin Deranque was killed in an attack last week on the sidelines of a far-right protest against a left-wing politician speaking in the southeastern city of Lyon. A video broadcast by TF1 television of the alleged attack shows a dozen people hitting three others lying on the ground, two of whom manage to escape. A witness told AFP "people were hitting each other with iron bars". Deranque died from a severe brain injury sustained in the attack. Eric Zemmour, who leads a party even further to the right than Marine Le Pen's, attended a memorial in Paris on SundayImage: Julien Mattia/Le Pictorium Agency/ZUMA/picture alliance Macron calls for calm as government implicates far left France's National Assembly held a minute of silence in memory of Deranque on Tuesday afternoon. A march is scheduled in his honor in Lyon on Saturday.The killing has strained tensions ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race. President Emmanuel Macron earlier called for calm and for a swift investigation online. "It is essential that the perpetrators of this ignominy be prosecuted, brought to justice and convicted," Macron wrote on X at the weekend. "Hatred that kills has no place among us. I call for calm, restraint and respect." Far-right RN leader Marine Le Pen appealed for the "barbarians responsible for this lynching" to face the full force of the law. An anti-immigration collective called Nemesis said that Deranque had been at the protest to protect its members. It blamed the killing on a left-wing group called the Jeune Garde (Young Guard), an anti-fascist group cofounded by a current member of the left wing LFI political party, Raphael Arnault, before he joined the political fray. The group, which was formally dissolved in June last year, denied any connection to the "tragic events." LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon rejected any involvement from his party. Nevertheless, government spokesperson Maud Bregeon accused the LFI on Monday of having "encouraged a climate of violence for years." "There is therefore, in light of the political climate and the climate of violence, a moral responsibility of the part of LFI," she said on BFMTV. The crime took place as Macron was in Munich for the annual security conferenceImage: Liesa Johannssen/REUTERS One of Arnault's assistants had been banned from parliament after several witnesses mentioned him in the investigation into the fatal beating, parliamentary speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said on Monday. Far-right and far-left could lead the race for presidency next year France's political mood is increasingly fractious as April 2027 presidential elections near, when incumbent Macron will not be eligible to run after serving the maximum permitted two terms. Opinion polls currently suggest that the nationalist RN (National Rally) party of Marine Le Pen, possibly led by her deputy Jordan Bardella if Le Pen proves unable to run amid an ongoing appeal against an election ban, has the advantage — at least when it comes to a first-round vote with more than two candidates standing. Voting habits in a second round with only two choices can be more difficult to predict. Macron's centrist Renaissance party is struggling, while the traditional center-right and center-left powerhouses of French politics have been consigned to near-irrelevance for some time now. At present, albeit with polling volatile and more than a year to go until a vote, a relatively new center-right party Horizons founded by Mayor of Le Havre and former Prime Minister Edouarde Philippe appears best placed to challenge the far-right. A left-wing alliance led by LFI (France Unbowed) might also conceivably mount a serious challenge, as it did in 2024's legislative elections. But that's only if it can again unite a quite large group of ideologically disparate parties, none of which appear likely to challenge by themselves. This article was first published on February 16, 2026. It was updated on February 18, 2026, to reflect the arrest of suspects in the case. Edited by: Louis Oelofse and Srinivas Mazumdaru