French student (23), who died after violence during a demonstration, was attacked by “at least six masked people”.

Six masked perpetrators

According to French police, the student, who was a member of the far-right movement Action Française, was attacked by “at least six people” during Thursday’s demonstration. The demonstration was aimed at disrupting a conference by Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian MEP from the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI).

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The perpetrators wore masks and hoods to conceal their identities. Deranque was thrown to the ground along with two other young men. “They were repeatedly struck by multiple individuals, at least six in total,” police said. Two of the victims managed to escape, but Deranque remained on the ground.

A friend of the victim later returned to the scene of the accident and found him “still conscious” and “still able to talk”, he continued. But when the friend wanted to take him home, he noticed his health was deteriorating and called the emergency services. But once admitted to the hospital, all help came too late. “Deranque had suffered a serious brain trauma “that could no longer be treated and was fatal in the short term,” said public prosecutor Thierry Dran at the press conference.

Manslaughter

A criminal investigation has been launched into intentional manslaughter and an investigation into a crime with aggravating circumstances (in a group context, with weapons and with a disguised face). It is also being investigated whether the crime is a conspiracy. This carries a prison sentence of five years, the public prosecutor announced.

The case is further investigated by the Lyon police territorial investigation unit. “The detectives have conducted numerous investigations, including interviewing more than fifteen witnesses and analyzing videos. The technical investigation is still very actively continuing,” the detective said.

No arrests yet

“At this time, no arrests have been made,” the prosecutor explained. “The investigation is now focusing on identifying all those directly responsible for the crimes, not on rumors, but on evidence collected during the police investigation. Arrests will follow.”