France’s judicial police launched a wave of arrests on the evening of Tuesday, February 17, five days after the fatal assault on Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old student and far-right activist who was beaten on a sidewalk in Lyon. The attack followed clashes between radical groups on the sidelines of a conference by hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) MEP Rima Hassan on Thursday, February 12, at Sciences Po Lyon.
Nine people – seven men and two women – were initially arrested in the Lyon region. They were taken into police custody in Lyon as part of the preliminary investigation launched by prosecutors for “murder,” “criminal conspiracy” and “aggravated violence by a group, use of makeshift weapons, and concealing their faces.” On Wednesday morning, a prosecutor announced two additional arrests – a man and a woman – bringing the total number to 11.
At least six of the people arrested were suspected of directly taking part in the most violent scene, which unfolded on Rue Victor-Lagrange in Lyon’s 7th arrondissement, about 400 meters from the Sciences Po campus building. Police have video footage filmed by a local resident and broadcast by TF1 that shows several hooded individuals surrounding and beating the young student on the ground. At this stage, the key challenge of the investigation is to determine who delivered the most severe blows that may have caused the death, in order to establish each person’s level of responsibility. The investigation also covers aggravated violence against other victims during the same incident, and possibly other acts committed earlier that afternoon.
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