The Japan Times - Trump administration denounces 'terrorism' in France after activist's killing

The US administration weighed in on the fatal beating of Quentin Deranque after President Emmanuel Macron called on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had expressed shock over 23-year-old activist's killing, to keep out of France's affairs.

Deranque died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a protest against a politician from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party in the southeastern city of Lyon last week.

His death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year and sparked a war of words between Macron and Italy's right-wing prime minister Meloni, who has warm ties with Trump.

Sarah Rogers, the US State Department under secretary for public diplomacy, said the killing of Deranque showed "why we treat political violence -- terrorism -- so harshly".

"Once you decide to kill people for their opinions instead of persuade them, you've opted out of civilization," she wrote on X. "We will continue to watch this case."

The State Department's bureau of counter-terrorism separately posted: "Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque's death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety."

Meloni said the killing of Deranque was "a wound for all of Europe".

Macron shot back by saying everyone should "stay in their own lane", but Meloni later said that the French president had misinterpreted her comments.

Macron also said there was no place in France "for movements that adopt and legitimise violence", and urged the far right and hard left to clean up their act.

Deranque's supporters have called for a march in his memory on Saturday in Lyon.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he had planned an "extremely large police deployment" with reinforcements to ensure security.

The rally is expected to be attended by 2,000 to 3,000 people, and likely to see counter-protesters from the hard left.

"I can only ban a demonstration when there are major risks of public disorder and I am not in a position to contain them," he told the RTL broadcaster.

- 'Fascist demonstration' -

Jordan Bardella, the president of anti-immigration RN, has urged party members not to go.

LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard warned on X the event would be a "fascist demonstration" that "over 1,000 neo-Nazis from all over Europe" were expected to attend.

Two people, aged 20 and 25, have been charged with intentional homicide in relation to Deranque's fatal beating, according to the Lyon prosecutor and their lawyers.

A third suspect has been charged with complicity in the killing.

Jacques-Elie Favrot, a 25-year-old former parliamentary assistant to LFI lawmaker Raphael Arnault, has admitted to having been present at the scene but denied delivering the blows that killed Deranque, his attorney said.

Favrot said "it was absolutely not an ambush, but a clash with a group of far-right activists", he added.

- 'Charlie Kirk moment' -

Opinion polls put the far right in the lead for the French presidency in 2027, when Macron will have to step down after the maximum two consecutive terms in office.

In snap parliamentary polls in 2024, Macron's supporters and the left, including the hard left, had allied against the far right.

After the Lyon killing, several voices on the more moderate left have rejected another such alliance with LFI.

Socialist party official Pierre Jouvet on Friday however said its politicians could in rare cases ally with LFI candidates in the second round of municipal elections next month if they reject "political violence".

Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin warned against what he described as France's "Charlie Kirk moment", referring to an ultraconservative activist who was shot and killed in September in the United States.

"It's a moment aimed at delegitimising part of the political spectrum and casting the triumphant far right as a victim," the moderate right-winger wrote on X.

"Let's stay vigilant. Let's not concede ground to the far right."

burs-ah-as/rmb

K.Tanaka--JT