Macron tells Meloni to stop ‘commenting on what is happening in other people’s countries’ after fatal beating of far-right activist in Lyon
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to refrain from weighing in on France’s internal affairs after she expressed shock over the fatal beating of a 23-year-old far-right activist in Lyon, a killing that has intensified political tensions ahead of key votes.
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“Let everyone stay in their own lane,” Macron said in New Delhi during an official visit to India, responding to Meloni’s public remarks on the death of Quentin Deranque. The young man died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people last week on the sidelines of a far-right protest at a university in the southeastern French city, authorities said.
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran told reporters he has requested intentional homicide charges against seven men and that they remain in custody to prevent any “disturbance to public order.” Eleven suspects in total — eight men and three women — have been detained as part of the investigation, most of them linked to far-left movements, according to a source close to the case.
Meloni later said Macron had misread her comments, describing her statement as an expression of solidarity rather than interference. “I’m sorry that Macron experienced it as interference,” she said in a television interview with SkyTg24. “Expressing solidarity with the French people on a matter that clearly concerns everyone is not interference.” Her office had earlier reacted with “astonishment” following Macron’s rebuke, and an Italian government source said her message “had no bearing whatsoever on France’s internal affairs.”
Macron condemned political violence across the spectrum, saying there is no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimise violence.” He added: “Nothing can justify violent action — neither on one side nor the other, and not even in a head-to-head confrontation that is deadly for the republic.” A member of his team said the president is closely monitoring the situation and stressed the need to avoid any “spiral of violence.”
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, also weighed in, calling the killing “a serious matter that concerns us all.” In comments on X, he evoked Italy’s “Years of Lead,” warning that condemning such attacks helps ensure the country and region do not return to a “terrible past.”
The Lyon investigation has drawn scrutiny beyond France’s borders after reports that two parliamentary assistants to Raphaël Arnault, a member of parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, and a former intern are among those in custody. Authorities have not detailed individual roles, and no convictions have been announced.
The victim’s family, through their lawyer, appealed for restraint. “The family condemns any call for violence. Any form of political violence,” attorney Fabien Rajon told broadcaster RTL, urging calm as the inquiry proceeds.
The killing has further inflamed an already charged political atmosphere in France. Municipal elections are due in March, and the far-right National Rally (RN) believes the 2027 presidential race could provide its strongest opening yet to capture the Elysée. RN leader Jordan Bardella this week accused Macron and former prime ministers Gabriel Attal and Édouard Philippe of empowering the hard-left — a charge the president’s allies reject.
The case has become a proxy for broader anxieties over street clashes, radicalization and the boundaries of political expression on French campuses. It also risks straining ties between Paris and Rome, where leaders have previously sparred over migration and European policy. Macron’s call for foreign leaders to “stay in their own lane,” and Meloni’s insistence that solidarity is not interference, underscore how a local homicide investigation has spilled into a cross-border political dispute.
For now, the legal process remains at the center of the case. Prosecutors in Lyon are moving ahead with intentional homicide charges against several suspects as they piece together what happened around the protest that ended in deadly violence. French authorities have urged restraint from supporters and opponents of the far right and left, warning that further confrontation could escalate a tragedy already reverberating through the country’s politics.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
