Protesters demonstrate in support of the antifascist group La Jeune Garde, which at the time faced dissolution proceedings initiated by the Interior Ministry, in Lyon, on May 6, 2025. JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP
It is the latest offshoot of a broader movement currently in turmoil and under government scrutiny. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has highlighted the responsibility of Jeune Garde – a small, antifascist group – in the death of Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old student and activist with France's far-right identitarian movement. Deranque died on Saturday, February 14, following a street fight that took place two days earlier on the sidelines of a conference by MEP Rima Hassan, a member of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) at Sciences Po Lyon.
"The investigation will determine whether or not the perpetrators were activists from Jeune Garde, but the witness statements clearly point in that direction," said the interior minister on Sunday on France 2 television. The same day, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin stated that "it is clearly the ultra-left that killed" Deranque. In a press briefing on Monday, February 16, Prosecutor Thierry Dran said the far-right activist died from blows inflicted by at least six masked and hooded individuals who have not yet been identified. He reclassified the case as "murder."
