Eight further people were arrested on Thursday in the investigation into the death of Quentin Deranque, the 23-year-old student beaten to death by a group in Lyon in February, Agence France-Presse reported.
The detentions were carried out under warrants issued by examining magistrates.
Nine far-left militants are already under formal investigation for murder, participation in a criminal association and aggravated violence.
The new arrests sit inside that judicial inquiry.
The eight new people arrested on Tuesday are “suspected of having participated in the brawls, in the various acts of violence of the day, but not of having delivered the fatal blows”, according to a source close to the investigation quoted by AFP.
Deranque, a mathematics student, was attacked on February 12 near Sciences Po Lyon after a clash between supporters of the identitarian women’s group Collectif Némésis, whom he had come to protect, and antifascist militants.
He was isolated with two companions on Rue Victor-Lagrange, knocked to the ground and brutally kicked against the head by several masked assailants.
He died two days later of catastrophic brain injury.
Prosecutor Thierry Dran said at least six people took part in the beating.Prosecutor Thierry Dran said at least six people took part in the beating.
Video broadcast by TF1 showed a group striking people on the pavement.
Investigators have described both a brawl between two organised groups and a subsequent assault on a man already on the ground.
Most of those first arrested were described by police sources as members or close associates of Jeune Garde Antifasciste, the Lyon antifascist group co-founded by La France Insoumise deputy Raphaël Arnault and dissolved by the government in 2025.
Among the nine already under investigation are Jacques-Élie Favrot, then Arnault’s parliamentary assistant, charged with complicity in voluntary homicide, and Adrian Besseyre, a former intern in the same office, charged with voluntary homicide.
A third collaborator, Robin Chalendard, was investigated for helping a suspect evade police.
Arnault said he had begun to end Favrot’s contract before the arrest.
Favrot’s lawyer has said his client admitted being present and using violence but denied delivering the blows that killed Deranque.
Some of the accused are on the security-service S-list, with people listed as a threat to the security of the state.
LFI and Jean-Luc Mélenchon have rejected any party responsibility.
The case became a national political argument within days, with ministers pointing at the dissolved group and LFI, and Mélenchon accusing his opponents of slander.
Thirteen of Deranque’s companions presented themselves to police as victims of a one-sided attack.
The examining magistrates are still identifying further participants. Thursday’s eight arrests suggest that work is not finished.
COMMENT: France’s current political leadership has allowed a culture of intimidation to take root against the French population that wants to defend its heritage, its culture and its way of life, writes @KMZiccarelli. https://t.co/sA0pH7DKPI
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 20, 2026
