A political killing risks tearing the French left apart – and the far right is taking full advantage | Philippe Marlière

The fallout from the violent death of Quentin Deranque exposes Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s flaws – and leaves the wider left facing an impossible dilemma

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n 2023 Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leader of the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI), made a fundamental miscalculation. He publicly promoted a small group of young antifascist activists. La Jeune Garde, founded in Lyon in 2018, were politically inexperienced and had organised a series of sometimes violent confrontations with far-right groups.

Members of the group, which was banned in 2025, are now suspected of involvement in a killing that has convulsed France. The victim, Quentin Deranque, was a 23-year-old mathematics student and a far-right activist.

Deranque died in Lyon on 14 February two days after a violent street confrontation that allegedly involved members of Jeune Garde. Eleven suspects, including a parliamentary aide to an LFI member of parliament, have been arrested. The assault occurred on the sidelines of a far-right protest against a conference held by Rima Hassan, an MEP for Mélenchon’s party.