French police will be out in force at a weekend rally for slain patriotic activist Quentin Deranque, the interior minister said on Friday, February 20th, as the country seeks to contain anger over the fatal beating.
The march is intended to honour Quentin, who died after being brutally assaulted last week in Lyon near the building of Sciences Po Lyon. The attack followed a peaceful demonstration organised by the right-wing feminist group Collectif Némésis during a conference attended by MEP Rima Hassan of the far-left La France Insoumise party.
The women were physically confronted by ‘antifascist’ groups. Quentin, who was providing security for the female activists, was ambushed and severely beaten by far-left militants.
His death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year, in which the right-wing nationalist National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet at winning the top job.
Deranque’s supporters have called for a march in his memory on Saturday in Lyon.
The Green mayor of Lyon asked the state to ban it, but Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez declined to do so.
Nuñez said he had planned an “extremely large police deployment” with reinforcements from outside the city to ensure security at the rally, expected to be attended by 2,000 to 3,000 people, and likely to see counter-protesters from the hard left show up.
“I can only ban a demonstration when there are major risks of public disorder, and I am not in a position to contain them,” he told the RTL broadcaster.
“My role is to strike a balance between maintaining public order and freedom of expression.”
Two people, aged 20 and 25, have been charged with intentional homicide in relation to the fatal beating, according to the Lyon prosecutor and their lawyers.
A third suspect has been charged with complicity in the killing.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe.”
