Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old nationalist militant, died on Saturday February 14, 2026, following an assault on Thursday evening in Lyon, on the sidelines of a conference by LFI MEP Rima Hassan at Sciences Po. Nine suspects, including parliamentary aide Jacques-Élie Favrot to LFI deputy Raphaël Arnault, were arrested on Tuesday, most being former members of the ultraleft group Jeune Garde, dissolved in 2025.
On February 12, 2026, around 6 p.m., clashes pitted ultraleft and ultraright militants near Sciences Po Lyon, during a conference organized by the Eurôka association with Rima Hassan. Quentin Deranque, a member of the identitarian collective Némésis, found himself isolated with two others and was thrown to the ground, then beaten by at least six masked and hooded individuals, according to Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran. Suffering from a major head trauma and a right temporal fracture, he was taken to hospital and declared dead two days later.
The investigation for 'homicide volontaire' and 'aggravated violence' identified six main suspects, all former members of Jeune Garde, an antifascist group founded in 2018 by Raphaël Arnault, LFI deputy convicted in 2022 to four months' suspended prison for voluntary violence in assembly. Nine arrests took place on Tuesday February 17: five in the afternoon and four in the evening, in the Lyon region, Haute-Loire, Drôme, and Aisne. Among them, Jacques-Élie Favrot, 25, aide to Raphaël Arnault, present on site that evening. Arnault announced on X that he had initiated proceedings to end Favrot's contract, who has ceased parliamentary activities.
At the National Assembly, a minute of silence was observed on Tuesday before questions to the government. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu urged LFI to 'clean your ranks', recalling the arrest of a parliamentary aide. 'Without prejudging the outcome of the investigation and infringing on the presumption of innocence, I reiterate that yes, cleaning must be done in your ranks. And quickly', he wrote on X. Jean-Luc Mélenchon rejected these 'lessons', stating: 'We do not accept the lessons given to us by Mr. the Prime Minister'. Mathilde Panot, LFI leader, denounced an 'imaginary moral responsibility' and criticized the lack of security despite alerts on Némésis's presence. Gérald Darmanin accused: 'Jeune Garde kills, and La France insoumise should condemn it'. Olivier Faure (PS) judged that LFI 'cannot maintain the slightest ambiguity with any violent movement'.
Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste announced there would be no more university meetings in case of risks to public order, via a circular to prefects and rectors.
