France arrests nine over far-right activist's killing

French authorities arrested nine suspects on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a far-right activist last week, including an aide to a hard-left member of parliament, a prosecutor and an informed source said.

Quentin Deranque, 23, died after suffering a serious brain injury when he was beaten by at least six people last week on the fringes of a far-right rally against a left-wing politician speaking at a university in the southeastern city of Lyon.

The murder has heightened tensions between the far right and the hard left in France in the run-up to municipal elections in March and the 2027 presidential election, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is believed to have its strongest chance yet of winning the presidency.

Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran said on Tuesday that four suspects had been arrested, and shortly afterwards that five others had been taken into custody, making a total of nine.

A source close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that an aide to Raphael Arnault, a member of parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, was among the first four arrested.

Arnault reacted by saying he was firing the assistant.

The head of the LFI, Jean-Luc Melenchon said that those who had attacked Deranque had "dishonoured" themselves by acting with apparent lethal intent.