France's radical left is under pressure after the killing of a student in Lyon was blamed on "anti-fascist" militants.
Quentin Deranque, a 23-year-old mathematics student and nationalist activist, died on Saturday, two days after being beaten in the street by a group of youths, the BBC reported.
State prosecutor Thierry Dran said at a press conference Monday afternoon in Lyon that a homicide investigation has been opened into the death.
He said Deranque was kicked and punched by "at least six" individuals, and that an autopsy showed fatal injuries to his skull and brain.
On Thursday afternoon, Deranque had given support to a far-right feminist collective called Némésis, which organized a small protest against a visit by a left-wing politician to the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Lyon, commonly known as Sciences-Po.
Cellphone video footage from a few streets away from the protest site showed three young men being kicked and punched by a larger group. One person – believed to be Quentin – was left lying on the ground.
According to Dran, there was an initial confrontation between the two groups. A short time later, Deranque was one of three nationalist activists who, after failing to leave, were surrounded by the opposing group.
Ministers in President Macron's center-right government blamed "far-left" militants for the killing.
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