France summons US envoy after ‘violent left’ accusation

The State Department earlier voiced concern over the killing of French right-wing activist Quentin Deranque by alleged members of an antifa group

France has summoned the US envoy after the Trump administration sounded the alarm over what it described as the rise of “violent radical leftism” in the country. The remarks came after alleged members of a left-wing group killed French right-wing activist Quentin Deranque.

Deranque, a 23-year-old mathematics student and member of the nationalist group Audace Lyon, died on February 14 from head injuries sustained two days earlier during a brawl with left-wing activists. He had been acting as informal security for protesters from the right-wing women’s group Nemesis.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez described the killing as “a deliberate homicide” and “a lynching.” Eleven people have been arrested, including two aides of Raphael Arnault, an MP from the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party.

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In a post on X on Thursday, the US Department of State Bureau of Counterterrorism posted a message – which was later shared by Washington’s embassy in France – that said that Deranque’s death “should concern us all.”

“Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety,” it noted, adding that the US expects to see the perpetrators brought to justice.

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Separately, US State Department Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers said the killing showed “why we treat political violence – terrorism – so harshly.”

On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced that Paris would summon the US ambassador to France, Charles ⁠Kushner. “We reject any instrumentalization of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” he said. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”

The Deranque scandal already triggered a stand-off between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who described the tragedy as “a wound for all of Europe” and condemned “a climate of ideological hatred sweeping several nations.”

In response, Macron suggested that he was always struck by the fact that “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.”