‘Red Line Crossed’: Bardella Warns French Democracy at a ‘Tipping Point’ After Alleged Antifa Killing of Conservative Student

The French political and media establishment are complicit in the violence of the far-left, National Rally president Jordan Bardella said in response to the alleged Antifa mob killing of a 23-year-old conservative university student in Lyon last week.

At least 11 people have been arrested so far in connection with the death of Quentin Déranque, who was seen being beaten on the ground by alleged far-left activists on the sidelines of a protest at the Sciences Po university in Lyon last Thursday. Déranque suffered catastrophic brain injuries as a result and died in hospital on Saturday.

Among those arrested are two parliamentary assistants to MP Raphaël Arnault, the founder of the Young Guard Antifa cell in Lyon and a member of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI/France in Rebellion) party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Multiple suspects are said to have been members of the Antifa cell, despite the government supposedly banning the group last year. Arnault and his two (now former) parliamentary assistants were all reportedly known to police and on extremist watch lists for their roles with Antifa, according to Le Figaro.

While much of the attention has been focused on Mélenchon’s party and their alleged connections to the killing, National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said on Wednesday that the Paris establishment is also to blame, accusing the mainstream media and Macronist politicians of failing to reckon with the dangers posed by the far-left.

“This is the result of a climate of violence, meticulously established for years by a segment of the left whose verbal excesses and strategy of perpetual chaos are now fuelling physical violence in our streets,” the MEP said,

“If the far left killed this weekend, it’s primarily because it benefits from media complicity and a certificate of immunity granted by the political class,” he said.

Bardella specifically pointed to former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who, alongside President Macron, entered into a controversial electoral pact with the leftist New Popular Front (NPF), which included the LFI, during the 2024 elections as a cynical ploy to prevent the National Rally from taking control of parliament. Bardella noted that campaign leaflets for the NPF included the logo of the Young Guard Antifa cell implicated in the killing of Quentin.

“The Macron supporters who called for voting for LFI in the most recent legislative elections all bear heavy responsibility. In dozens of constituencies, they deliberately opened the doors of the National Assembly to the worst thugs of the far left,” he said.

“Our democracy is at a tipping point,” Bardella said. “The left and the far left have crossed an unacceptable red line in our democracy: respect for the opinions and physical integrity of their opponents.

The National Rally chief, who is currently the favourite to become the next French president, called for a “cordon sanitaire” to be put up around the LFI party in the next elections, meaning that other major parties would refuse to partner with the radical leftist party.

Making the Melenchonist party off limits was also suggested by the government’s Justice Minister, Gerald Darmamin, who said on Wednesday: “Never again should the republican parties, the sincere, secular, and democratic left-wing parties, ally themselves with the far left and La France Insoumise.”

The call for a firewall against the left upends the longstanding practice of European establishment parties cordoning off populist right-wing parties, including the National Rally.

Even former Socialist French President François Hollande called for a cordon sanitaire around the LFI, despite having campaigned alongside the far-left party under the banner of the New Popular Front just two years ago, saying, “The relationship with LFI is over, as far as I’m concerned.”

For his part, former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon initially attempted to deny any links to the attack, while simultaneously attempting to cast blame on the anti-mass migration feminist group for having apparently provoked their attackers last week in Lyon. Mélenchon even called for the all-female Collectif Némésis identitarian group to be banned over the incident during which Quentin died at the alleged hands of Antifa radicals tied to his party. It comes in contrast to his position on the Young Guard Antifa cell, which he publicly defended after the government announced the ban last year for inciting violence.

While Mélenchon has since condemned those involved in the killing of the conservative student, his party has so far refused to remove Raphaël Arnault from their ranks in the National Assembly, with the LFI chief saying on Tuesday that the Young Guard founder has “brilliantly earned his stripes as a member of parliament… He’s a good MP, he’s hardworking, he does us proud.”

In a stunning admission, Mélenchon also publicly admitted that his party “deliberately aligned” itself with the Antifa cell due to their history of physical confrontations with the right, saying that the Young Guard had “far more advanced experience than we did in defending against fascist attacks, and we knew we weren’t up to the task.”

Out of the around twenty Antifa assailants who attacked Quentin and his friends, 11 have so far been arrested, reportedly including five who have a so-called “S” file, meaning they were considered potential extremists and threats to national security over their activities in the Young Guard.

The killing has caused national uproar, with around 15 protests already planned in cities across France this weekend. At an initial demonstration in Paris last Sunday, protesters were heard chanting “LFI assassins” and carrying placards reading “Antifa murderers, justice for Quentin”.

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