The Japan Times - Killing of far-right activist stokes tensions in France

Quentin Deranque, 23, died of his wounds after being attacked Thursday on the sidelines of a far-right protest against a left-wing politician speaking at a university in the city of Lyon.

The incident has fuelled tension between France's far right and hard left ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race.

The investigation is still ongoing, but the government has already blamed rhetoric from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party for fuelling the violence that led to his death.

The far right has blamed the killing on la Jeune Garde (Young Guard), an anti-fascist youth group co-founded by an LFI lawmaker before he was elected to parliament.

The group -- which was dissolved in June -- denied any links to the "tragic events".

Lyon's prosecutor was to reveal the findings of his investigation on Monday afternoon.

Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon accused the LFI Monday of having "encouraged a climate of violence for years".

"There is therefore -- in light of the political climate and the climate of violence -- a moral responsibility on the part of LFI" for the attack on Thursday, she told television broadcaster BFMTV.

Raphael Glucksmann, a centre left member of European parliament, also lambasted the hard left party.

"It's unthinkable that, on the left, we would continue to harbour the slightest doubt about a possible electoral alliance with LFI," he told the RTL broadcaster.

The left, including LFI, allied against the far right after President Emmanuel Macron took a gamble by calling for snap parliamentary election in 2024.

But Macron lost even more of his majority, and the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) became the biggest party in the lower house.

- 'Pitched battle' -

According to a source close to the probe into the Lyon killing, there was "a pitched battle between members of the far left and the far right".

A video broadcast by TF1 television of the alleged attack shows a dozen people hitting three others lying on the ground, two of whom manage to escape.

A witness told AFP "people were hitting each other with iron bars".

LFI's veteran leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, a three-time presidential candidate widely expected to run again next year, has denied his party were to blame.

On the far right, Marine Le Pen, who is still hoping to stand in 2027 despite a graft conviction, condemned the "barbarians responsible for this lynching".

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

Le Pen has said she will decide whether to run after an appeal court ruling in July, when she could hand over to her lieutenant Jordan Bardella.

A poll of 1,000 people published on Sunday placed Bardella as the preferred candidate in the 2027 vote, ahead of Le Pen in second place.

Centrist ex-prime minister Edouard Philippe, a candidate, and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin were in joint third place.

burs-ah/fg

K.Yamaguchi--JT