The French police identify the attackers of the young nationalist beaten to death and political tension grows in the country

The suspects “do not appear on the S list (a list of people considered a threat to national security),” this judicial source specified.

The Young Guard (La Joven Guardia) is an anti-fascist self-defense groupemerged in Lyon in 2018 and dissolved in June 2025, which is now an ally of France Insoumise (LFI). In June 2024, Jean-Luc Mélénchon added its leader, Raphaël Arnault, to his ranks, supporting him as the main candidate for the Vaucluse legislative elections and today he is in the National Assembly.

On Monday, during a press conference, Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran stated that Quentin, 23, had been “thrown and repeatedly beaten to the ground” by at least six masked and hooded individuals.

The circumstances surrounding Quentin Deranque’s death remain unclear. Attacked on Thursday night in Lyon, this student was, according to the identity group Némésis, responsible for the safety of several of its members, who came to demonstrate against a conference by the pro-Palestinian MEP of France Insoumise, Rima Hassan, at Sciences Po Lyon.

The murder of Quentin in Lyon shows the definitive escalation of an ideological guerrilla war between “identitarians” (far-right nationalists) and “antifa” (anti-fascists) in France.

Nemesis, a far-right feminist group, claimed that Quentin was attacked by anti-fascist activists, some of whom belonged to La Jeune Garde, an organization founded in 2018 by Raphaël Arnault.

While the government pointed to “La Jeune Garde” as responsible, the Lyon prosecutor, Thierry Dran, refused to give more details about the profiles of the attackers during his press conference.

“When we have arrested the individuals, we will give them more information about their affiliations,” he said evasively, stating that he wanted to base his statements “not on rumors, but on evidence” from the investigation.

The Némésis collective learned about the visit of the pro-Palestinian European deputy Rima Hassan to Lyon. I wanted to organize a “shock action” or a “happening” last Thursday.

“The idea was to show up with a banner and a megaphone,” explains Louise (not her real name), one of the seven members present that day. As a precaution, the young women had called about fifteen “friends,” including Quentin Deranque.

“We asked them to come just in case. Their only mission was to evacuate us if the situation got out of control. For everything else, we counted on the police,” Louise continues.

“It’s something we do very rarely. But it happens, especially during leafleting campaigns at universities or when we put up posters at night,” explained Mélanie, who was also in Lyon last Thursday.

That’s why Quentin and his friends came to the place. Over there They faced young people with their heads covered, who confronted them with fist blows and kicks..

Quentin managed to escape, after being rescued by his friends, after being brutally attacked. His condition deteriorated at a bus stop, when he was heading home.. He arrived at the hospital with a major traumatic brain injury. and a right temporal fracture. He died on Saturday as a result of his injuries.

The tension over Quentin’s death spreads throughout France. On Sunday night, around fifty pro-Nazi protesters paraded with their faces covered on Boulevard Menilmontant, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, a few blocks from the Place de la Bastille, with Nazi greetings. An improvised march.

They gathered on the boulevard and shouted “Justice for Quentin”, in another battle between the extreme right and the extreme left in the French streets.

Alerted by neighbors, the police acted quickly and the protesters fled through the side streets.

At the same time, an anonymous call notified the police that “mouse traps” were underway, that is, violence against an ethnic minority, in this case people of Arab origin, in different streets of Paris. On Sunday morning, Nazi crosses and anti-Semitic gestures had appeared on the monument in the Plaza de la República, in the heart of the capital.

The French public education minister banned meetings at universities. Quentin died when a pro-Palestinian European deputy appeared at the University of Lyon and he was protecting a group of far-right fundamentalist Catholic women.