Around 3,200 people marched in the southern French city of Lyon on Saturday in memory of Quentin Deranque, a far-right activist who died last weekend following a street brawl there between ultranationalist and anti-fascist militants.
The crowd marched through the city of Lyon carrying flowers and placards bearing pictures of Quentin Deranque and the words, "justice for Quentin" and "the extreme left kills".
Some wore surgical masks and sunglasses to cover their faces and chanted "we are at home" and "antifa assassin".
Videos circulating on social media showed Nazi salutes and racist insults. The local authority said it had reported them to the prosecutor.
Deranque, a 23-year-old nationalist activist and student, died from his injuries last weekend – two days after being severely beaten during a street brawl between ultranationalist and anti-fascist militants.
Seven people are under formal investigation for their alleged role in his death, including a former aide to a lawmaker for the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, which has condemned the killing.
Heavy police presence
Saturday's rally was heavily policed amid fears that clashes would break out between demonstrators and counter-protesters.
"We will not tolerate any incidents within the procession" or "on the fringes of this march," Rhône Prefect Fabienne Buccio said ahead of the rally.
The march had largely dissipated by 8:00pm without incident, but increased law enforcement would remain deployed in the city throughout the night, Buccio said.
There were also small groups shouting "we are all antifascist" at the side of the march, and a banner saying "Lyon is antifa" flew from a window, images broadcast on BFMTV showed.
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'Charlie-Kirk moment'
French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm on Saturday morning ahead of the rallies and said he would hold a meeting with ministers on all violent groups next week.
Former centre-right prime minister Dominique de Villepin called the killing of 23-year-old Deranque "France's Charlie Kirk moment", referring to last year's shooting of the US conservative activist.
Deranque's death was the first allegedly carried out by hard-left individuals since 2022, newspaper Le Monde has reported. Reuters has reported at least five killings allegedly carried out by far-right individuals in the same period.
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Far-right groups
The march was organised by Aliette Espieux, an anti-abortion activist who ran as a National Rally candidate in the 2020 municipal elections. She is married to Eliot Bertin, a well‑known figure of the radical neo‑Nazi milieu in Lyon.
The far-right National Rally had urged supporters not to attend the rally for fear of unrest.
Lyon mayor Gregory Doucet had tried to stop the march from going ahead, telling reporters he was worried about calls for French and European neo-Nazi groups to travel to Lyon for the event.
"We have fought against far-right violence during our term. We have managed to close down many premises, to shut down organisations because we know that certain individuals are violent and so we were worried," he said on Saturday.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the march had been authorised in the name of freedom of speech.
(with newswires)
