France's Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP) BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
The "ultra-left" in France was behind the deadly beating of a French youth aligned with the far right whose death has inflamed political tensions in the country, the justice minister said on Sunday, February 15. Gérald Darmanin also accused hard-left politicians, including from the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, the largest left-wing faction in parliament, of fueling violence with their language.
The victim, identified only as Quentin, aged 23, had been hospitalized and placed into a coma on Thursday after being attacked in the southeastern city of Lyon. Supporters said he was providing security at a protest against an appearance by Rima Hassan, an LFI member of the European Parliament, at the Lyon branch of the Sciences Po university when he was assaulted by a gang of rival activists.
The office of the Lyon prosecutor on Saturday told AFP he had died of his wounds. An investigation has been opened into suspected aggravated manslaughter, it added.
"It was clearly the ultra left that killed him," Darmanin told RTL television. "There are indeed speeches, particularly from La France Insoumise 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 LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon of "not having a word to say for the family of the young man."
