Mainstream and far right politicians are painting the left in France as violent after the death of a far right activist.
The anti-racist movement responded with a huge demonstration in Paris on 14 March, with over 100,000 people marching. They were joined by thousands across France with over 100 protests taking place.
Quentin Deranque died as a result of injuries sustained in a fascist attack on a meeting in Lyon addressed by Rima Hassan. Rima is a member of the European parliament for the left wing LFI party, led by Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Fascists have targeted the offices of the LFI. There was a bomb threat against its national headquarters.
Far right organisations held tributes to Deranque in several cities.
In Paris, elected officials from the fascist National Rally (RN) attended one of these tributes. Dozens then walked through a left wing neighbourhood with Nazi signs.
On 12 February, a handful of activists from the fascist group Nemesis mobilised to disrupt the conference where Rima was speaking.
Students confronted the far right, chanting anti-fascist slogans.
Nemesis leader Alice Cordier said that the group had organised a security team to “intervene” if the group was confronted by anti-fascists.
She claimed this security team was “lynched by an armed militia”, and blamed the anti-fascist group Jeune Garde—Young Guard—which was dissolved last June.
But her account is contested. An anti-fascist student told the Mediapart newspaper that a group of fascists “jumped on them” as they were leaving. Videos of the attack appear to show the Nemesis “security group” launching the first projectiles and assaults.
There was a confrontation and other footage has circulated online of a group of individuals violently beating three men.
One of the security guards, Deranque, was taken to hospital and died from a severe brain injury.
The far right is now on the offensive. Fascist mobs have rampaged through the streets, sometimes in groups hundreds-strong.
Over 3000 joined a far right march in Lyon in February, with Nazi salutes, racist insults and homophobic chants on display.
And the fascist National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, is topping opinion polls and looking to make gains in the local elections next month.
Mainstream feeds the far right
Marche Des Solidarites (MDS) organiser Denis Godard told Socialist Worker UK that “All the mainstream media and parties, including part of the left, are attacking the anti-fascists and the LFI as murderers”, he said.
A spokesperson for France’s centrist government attacked the LFI as “encouraging a climate of violence”. She said there is “a moral responsibility on the part of LFI” for the attack.
The French parliament even held a minute of silence for the fascist activist, paying tribute to the death of a neo-Nazi.
French politicians have sometimes talked about a “cordon sanitaire”, where mainstream conservatives refuse to work with fascists.
Now, Denis said that “there are many calls for a cordon sanitaire against LFI”.
Politicians and the media have focused heavily on LFI MP Raphael Arnault, who was previously a spokesperson for the anti-fascist collective Jeune Garde—Young Guard.
The Labor-type PS party was part of a New Popular Front alliance with the LFI and others in 2024. It now says it won’t ally with the LFI due to its links with the Young Guard.
Denis said this legitimises the fascist RN. It pushes their idea that “the danger is not the fascists but the left”.
Denis said the far right “are rejoicing and celebrating the situation”.
“They are not just attacking migrants. Now they are doing what they wanted to do for a long time—attack the left. This is the core nature of fascism,” Denis said.
A group came back from a rally organised by fascists went into a liberal bar in Toulouse and went on the attack with knives and batons.
He said we should remember that Deranque “was a street fascist involved in street violence for months”.
Denis said there is a “division of labour” between street fascist groups and the RN—but they do coordinate.
“The last time Nemesis organised a press conference, it was at the office of the RN. Many of the parliamentary assistants of RN MPs come from street and student fascist groups,” Denis explained.
The far right has been emboldened by the racism of the government.
“Mainstream figures call migrants terrorists and delinquents and call Muslims dangerous,” Denis explained.
It is in this context that polls report that the RN would win the next parliamentary election or the presidential election set to take place in April 2027. The next test is the local elections in March.
By Thomas Foster
Republished from Socialist Worker UK
