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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - PARIS — Statements by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni describing the the fatal beating of a far-right activist in Lyon as “a wound for all of Europe,” provoked an angry response from French President Emmanuel Macron, who asked Rome not to “comment on what is happening in other countries.”
Quentin Deranque, 23,a mathematics student and devout Catholic, died two days after being viciously attacked on the sidelines of a protest in Lyon. According to the investigation, he suffered severe cranial injuries that proved fatal.
Prosecutors said seven people will face murder charges, including a parliamentary assistant to a lawmaker from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party.
Meloni wrote on social media that Deranque's death "by groups linked to left-wing extremism" and condemned what she called "a climate of ideological hatred sweeping several nations".
Macron responded sharply. "I'm always struck by how people who are nationalists, who don't want to be bothered in their own country, are always the first ones to comment on what's happening in other countries," he told reporters. "Let everyone stay at home and the sheep will be well looked after."
Asked if he was referring to Meloni, Macron replied: "You got that right."
The exchange reflects the extent to which the case has heightened tensions in French political debate, on the eve of the March municipal elections and with an eye on the 2027 presidential race, in which the patriotic Right hopes to consolidate its advance.
The Italian prime minister's office said it was "astonished" by Macron's comments. Sources said Meloni had simply expressed condolences and was not interfering in French affairs.
Deranque was attacked on 12 February on the sidelines of a demonstration by far right feminists at Sciences Po Lyon, where LFI MEP Rima Hassan was holding an event. The video showed several masked people kicking and punching a man on the ground.
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said at least six people took part in the attack. Deranque suffered fatal damage to his skull and brain from repeated blows and died in the hospital two days later.
Eleven people were initially detained. Most belonged to radical left-wing movements, according to judicial sources. Two men have been charged with murder and placed in pre-trial detention.
Jacques-Elie Favrot, an assistant to LFI lawmaker Raphael Arnault, was charged with complicity through instigation. Favrot's lawyer said his client acknowledged being present and committing violence but denied delivering the fatal blows.
Arnault said earlier this week that Favrot had stopped all parliamentary work. The lawmaker co-founded La Jeune Garde, an anti-fascist youth group that has been linked to the suspects, which France banned in 2025.
The killing has hurt LFI and allowed the far-right National Rally (RN) to depict itself as a victim of deadly extremist violence ahead of municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential race.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin called on Arnault to "draw the consequences" if the judiciary finds serious evidence concerning him or his aides. La France Insoumise coordinator Manuel Bompard said Arnault would not be suspended or excluded from the party.
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the killing was "a serious matter that concerns us all". He compared it to Italy's "Years of Lead" from the late 1960s to the 1980s, when armed groups from both left and right carried out bombings and assassinations.
"There have been many Quentins in Italy, some during the darkest periods of the Republic," Tajani wrote on social media. "Condemning acts like this serves to prevent Italy from falling back into such a dark past."
Meloni later told Sky TG24 that Macron had misinterpreted her comments. "I'm sorry that Macron experienced it as interference," she said. "My focus is not on France but on the risks of polarisation in society."
A lawyer for Deranque's parents said they called for "calm and restraint" and condemned "all forms of political violence". — Agencies
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