(AFP) – The French foreign ministry will summon the US ambassador to Paris over comments made by the Trump administration about the killing of a French far-right activist blamed on the hard left, France’s top diplomat said Sunday.
The death of Quentin Deranque has put France on edge, igniting tensions between the left and right ahead of a 2027 presidential vote. It has also provoked international reactions, with US President Donald Trump’s right-wing administration on Friday denouncing what it called “terrorism” in France.
“We are going to summon the United States ambassador to France, since the US embassy in France commented on this tragedy … which concerns the national community,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told French media outlets Le Monde, France Inter, and France Info.
“We reject any attempt to use this tragedy … for political purposes,” he added. The foreign ministry did not say when ambassador Charles Kushner — the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — would be summoned.
Deranque, 23, died from head injuries following clashes between radical-left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a February 12 demonstration against a politician from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party in Lyon. More than 3,000 people marched in Lyon on Saturday in tribute to Deranque, with authorities deploying heavy security fearing further clashes.
On Friday, Sarah Rogers, the State Department under secretary for public diplomacy, said Deranque’s killing showed “why we treat political violence — terrorism — so harshly.”
“Once you decide to kill people for their opinions instead of persuade them, you’ve opted out of civilization,” she wrote on X. The State Department’s bureau of counter-terrorism separately posted: “Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety” — a post shared in French by the US embassy account.
Deranque’s killing has also caused a diplomatic feud between France and Italy, whose right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has warm ties with Trump. She called the killing of Deranque “a wound for all of Europe,” prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to criticise her for speaking out on French domestic affairs.
Six men suspected of involvement in the fatal assault have been charged over the killing, while a parliamentary assistant to a radical left-wing MP has also been charged with complicity.
© 2024 AFP
