French prosecutor Thierry Dran gives a press conference, at a courthouse in the city of Lyon, on February 16, 2026. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP
French authorities have opened a murder probe into the death of a far-right activist last week, a public prosecutor said on Monday, February 16, in a killing the government has partly blamed on the radical left.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died after sustaining a severe brain injury when he was attacked by "at least six" people, on the sidelines of a far-right protest against a left-wing politician on Thursday, city prosecutor Thierry Dran said, at a press conference on Monday. The incident took place near the university where a politician was speaking at a conference, in the French city of Lyon, Dran added.
A video of the alleged attack, broadcast by the television channel TF1, shows a dozen people hitting three others lying on the ground, two of whom manage to escape.
No arrests had yet been made and authorities were working to identify the masked and hooded suspects in the killing, which is being investigated as an "intentional homicide" and "aggravated assault," Dran said.
