Headquarters of the French left-wing party LFI evacuated due to bomb threat. Eleven arrested for beatings and murder. French government calls for “cleansing” of Mélenchon’s party and considers that the LFI has direct responsibility for Deranque’s death, because of the climate of hatred and violence that it helped to create in the country
Paris – The Paris headquarters of the French left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) was evacuated this Wednesday due to a bomb threat, after the formation founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon was accused of encouraging violence following the murder of a far-right young man in Lyon. It was its national spokesman, Manuel Bompard, who announced the evacuation on social media and indicated that the building had been taken over by the police for technical checks.
This bomb threat comes amid a storm of accusations against the LFI following the death of Quentin Deranque on Saturday, two days after he was beaten by a group of hooded men who, according to investigations, were members of a small group close to the LFI.
Several political leaders from the left-wing party considered that the bomb threat was the result of these accusations, which they rejected.
“To those who seek to intimidate us: we will not give in and they will never destroy us”, wrote on the social network X the parliamentary spokeswoman, Mathilde Panot, who criticized the “enormous responsibility” of those who attack them.
The bomb threat is added, said the official, to other attacks against her party, such as “degradation of headquarters and threats of death and rape”.
The government and other parties consider that the LFI has direct responsibility for Deranque’s death, for the climate of hatred and violence that it helped to create in the country.
Eleven detainees
There are currently eleven detainees in the case who have links to the small group La Jeune Garde (The Young Guard), founded by current deputy Raphaël Arnault, whose parliamentary assistant Jacques-Elie Favrot is among those detained.
Two of the eleven people were arrested this Wednesday, in a residence in the Rhône region, of which Lyon is the capital, in the early hours of the morning. Among those detained are the six people directly involved in the aggression that resulted in the crime, according to prosecutor Thierry Dran.
According to the newspaper Le Parisien, this is a young man who, like the rest of the detainees, had a history of belonging to the radical group La Jeune Garde, dissolved by the Government last July due to its extremist and violent positions.
The detainee is suspected of having participated in the lynching of young Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old mathematics student, close to far-right circles, who died last Saturday in a hospital in Lyon, two days after being beaten.
Along with him, a young woman who was in the same residence was arrested and who, according to Le Parisien, is accused of having helped him escape from the police.
With these two new arrests, there are eleven detainees, eight men and three women, related to this crime that is marking French political life, with accusations against the left-wing party La France Insoumise, by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of supporting La Jeune Garde.
One of the founders of this small group, Raphaël Arnault, is an LFI deputy in the National Assembly and one of his parliamentary assistants, Jacques-Elie Favrot, is among those detained for the beating.
Raphael Arnault, elected member of the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), in a file photo from 2024, in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
According to various media outlets, among the eleven detainees are the six hooded men who the prosecutor’s office was trying to identify as the perpetrators of the beating, as can be seen from images recorded by neighbors.
In the images, it is possible to see how three young people were surrounded by a group of hooded men about two kilometers from the political science college in Lyon, where they had gone to support a demonstration against a conference by controversial LFI MEP Rima Hassan.
After a first confrontation between far-left and right-wing groups, the three militants were chased and cornered. Two of them managed to escape, but Quentin Deranque, who received several kicks to the head, remained inert on the ground, next to a lamp post, until another friend came to his aid.
Transported to the hospital in serious condition, he died two days later due to head trauma, according to the autopsy.
First arrests already pointed to the French extreme left
The first arrests were made on Tuesday and pointed to the responsibility of the French extreme left, placing Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party in a delicate position.
Shortly after the president of the La France Insoumise parliamentary group, Mathilde Panot, denied any responsibility of her group in the murder, the press reported that among those detained was Jacques-Élie Favrot, parliamentary assistant to her party’s deputy Raphaël Arnault.
He is a controversial parliamentarian, founder of the small anti-fascist group La Jeune Garde, dissolved by the government because of his violent and radical positions, to which, according to the French media, the six Deranque attackers belong.
Initially, five people were detained, all men aged around 20, and interrogated at police facilities. These were joined by four other arrests, two of them women, suspected of having collaborated with the attackers in their escape to escape arrest. They all have links to the Joven Guardia group.
On the eve of the start of the campaign for the municipal elections, the LFI was in the crosshairs of the other parties, accused of defending La Jeune Garde and creating, with its statements, a climate of violence that led to crime.
Mélenchon himself had to do linguistic pirouettes to address the issue that threatens to harm his electoral ambitions.
“In violence, not all blows are allowed”, said the four-time presidential candidate, who considered that the perpetrators of the crime “disgraced themselves” by attacking the boy “in a way that, clearly, could lead to his death”.
But, faced with those who “want to make political use of crime”, he added that “offensive and defensive violence are not the same thing” and stated that the militant, a 23-year-old mathematics student, practicing Catholic and close to patriotic circles, “was not there by chance nor had he gone to play”, but that “his objective was to join a militia”.
Deranque had attended last Thursday a demonstration called by the far-right identity group Némésis against the conference of controversial LFI MEP Rima Hassan, at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Lyon.
After some altercations between radical groups, the young man and two of his friends were followed by around twenty hooded men. Six of them beat them. Two of the far-right activists managed to escape, but Deranque remained inert on the ground, with head injuries, which caused a head injury that, two days later, caused his death in the hospital where he was transferred.
The condemnation was unanimous among the political class, which, at the request of the government, was quick to point out the extreme left as responsible for the crime.
Suspicions that seem to be confirmed with the first arrests that put the LFI and Mélenchon, who in the past defended La Jeune Garde and keeps Arnault in their ranks, in a bad light.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu asked them to “clean up their ideas and their ranks”, at the same time as he asked to stop “the rhetoric of confrontation” that threatens to overflow the political debate and reach society.
If the involvement of the detainees, who are being interrogated at police facilities, in the crime is confirmed, the LFI and Mélenchon will be in a very uncomfortable position.
Favrot’s figure would leave little doubt about the involvement of Arnault, who is part of his parliamentary group.
Images of the violent aggression, recorded from neighboring buildings, circulated in the media and on social networks and showed a group of hooded men lynching a group of three people.
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said they were seeking to identify “at least” six attackers. According to the first elements of the investigation, all of them are among those already detained.
Government asked the left for a “cleansing” – and to exclude deputy
French government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon asked La France Insoumise this Wednesday to “clean up its ranks” and exclude, at least temporarily, deputy Raphaël Arnault, after the arrest of one of his collaborators for possible involvement in the death of a young far-right man.
Arnault announced on Tuesday, after Favrot’s arrest, that he would terminate his collaborator’s contract in the National Assembly.
Speaking on Wednesday to broadcaster France Info, the French government spokeswoman recalled that the LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party, had “assumed ties” with La Joven Guardia, dissolved last June due to its radical and violent positions.
Former French president and current socialist deputy François Hollande criticized, in another interview with the BFMTV channel, “the double responsibility of the LFI” in this matter, for having agreed to have a ‘connection’ with La Jeune Garde and for the desire for the public debate to be carried out with “a certain brutality in expression” to raise the polarization with the extreme right.
“The relationship is over,” said Hollande, expressing his opinion that “there can be no alliance” between the Socialist Party and La France Insoumise for the next municipal elections in March.
From the extreme right, the president of the Agrupación Nacional (RN), Jordan Bardella, considered that Arnault “has no place in the Assembly” and that he should never have been a deputy, given his past, as “he has a record for attacks on State security” and had been convicted of acts of violence.
