A political killing risks tearing the French left apart – and the far right is taking full advantage | Philippe Marlière

The fallout from the violent death of Quentin Deranque exposes Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s flaws – and leaves the wider left facing an impossible dilemma In 2023 Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leader of the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI), made a fundamental miscalculation. He publicly promoted a small group of young antifascist activists. La Jeune Garde, founded in Lyon in 2018, were politically inexperienced and had organised a series of sometimes violent confrontations with far-ri...

By Philippe Marlière