France will summon US Ambassador Charles Kushner to protest comments by the Trump administration over the death of far-right activist Quentin Deranque, the foreign affairs minister said.
Foreign affairs minister Jean-Noel Barrot was reacting to a statement by the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau, which posted on X that “reports, corroborated by the French Minister of the Interior, that Quentin Deranque was killed by left-wing militants, should concern us all".
Deranque, a far-right activist, died of brain injuries last week from a beating in the French city of Lyon. He was attacked during a brawl on the margins of a student meeting where Rima Hassan, an MP with the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), was a keynote speaker.
His killing highlighted a climate of deep political tensions ahead of municipal elections in March, and next year’s presidential vote.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm on Saturday as some 3,000 people joined a march in Lyon organised by far-right groups to pay tribute to Deranque.
“We reject any instrumentalisation of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” Barrot said on Sunday. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”
The State Department said in its 19 February post that “violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety. We will continue to monitor the situation and expect to see the perpetrators of violence brought to justice".
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Seven people have been handed preliminary charges. Six have been charged with intentional homicide, aggravated violence and criminal conspiracy.
A seventh man, an assistant to the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) lawmaker Raphaël Arnault, was charged with complicity in intentional homicide, aggravated violence and criminal conspiracy.
Barrot said he has other topics to discuss with Kushner, including US decisions to impose sanctions on Thierry Breton, a former EU commissioner responsible for supervising social media rules, and Nicolas Guillou, a French judge at the International Criminal Court.
Barrot said both are targeted by “unjustified and unjustifiable” sanctions.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry did not say when the meeting will take place.
Kushner had already been summoned in August last year over his letter to Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism. France’s foreign officials met with a representative of the US ambassador since the diplomat did not show up.
Trump administration denounces 'terrorism' in France after activist's killing
(with newswires)
