A 23-year-old young man close to the Némésis identity collective was between life and death on Friday evening after being attacked, according to initial reports, by anti-fascist activists. A drama which provokes numerous political reactions.

Published on: 02/13/2026 - 8:17 p.m. Modified on: 02/20/2026 - 3:50 p.m.

A young man of 23, member of the identity collective Némésis, for which he provided, according to the latter, the security service, was hospitalized Friday evening after having been beaten up in Lyon the day before by several individuals likely to belong to a small anti-fascist group. Here's what we know.

The unfolding of the facts

According to initial information, the incident occurred on the sidelines of a gathering of the Némésis collective in front of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Lyon to protest against a conference by La France Insoumise (LFI) MEP Rima Hassan. A brawl could have broken out between the group of far-right activists and a small anti-fascist group.

"The theory of a simple 'brawl' between two rival groups does not seem to correspond to the reality of the facts", however affirmed Me Fabien Rajon, the lawyer of the young man and his family in a press release. “It would rather be a gratuitous lynching on the part of several individuals, in excess and armed, who would have attacked the isolated victim.”

According to the Lyon public prosecutor's office, which opened an investigation into aggravated violence, the injured young person is hospitalized with a life-threatening prognosis.

Who is the young man who was beaten?

Named Quentin and aged 23, the victim is a member of the Némésis identity collective, a far-right action group claiming to be feminist, created in October 2019.

His lawyer specifies that he is "a student of mathematics, plays tennis and philosophy" and that he was "invested in pastoral life, in particular within the choir of his parish".

The latter also affirms that “young Quentin was neither a security agent nor a member of any law enforcement agency”. Still according to the family's lawyer, he had "no criminal record" and had "always defended his beliefs in a non-violent manner".

A small far-left group implicated

In a press release, the Némésis collective said it had recognized among the attackers of the seriously injured young person a parliamentary collaborator of the LFI deputy Raphaël Arnault, "active member of the Young Guard".

The Young Guard, an anti-fascist group of which Raphaël Arnault is one of the founders, was dissolved in 2025 by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau who accused it of "violent actions".

Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, Raphaël Arnault, whose election in 2024 had been criticized by the Macronists, the right and the far right because of the S file to which he is the subject, did not react immediately.

La France insoumise is very close to the Young Guard, which was founded in 2018, and has sharply criticized its dissolution.

A deluge of reactions on the right

The proximity between the small group in question and LFI quickly triggered a storm of political reactions. “The impunity of the far left must end,” declared Jordan Bardella on his social networks while Marine Le Pen called for “far-left militias” to now be considered “terrorist groups”.

“No, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it is not the police who kill in France, it is the ultra-left!”, launched Bruno Retailleau to the leader Insoumis, in a message on

The secretary general of the Renaissance party, Gabriel Attal, for his part denounced "the violence of the extreme left (which) was unleashed", calling for a "unanimous condemnation" of these "extremely serious" facts.

LFI defends itself

For its part, LFI condemned “with the greatest firmness any physical violence” through its coordinator, Manuel Bompard, rejecting any responsibility in this affair.

“Contrary to what some people want us to believe, at no time did Rima Hassan or the teams from La France insoumise who accompanied her for the conference organized at the IEP in Lyon have any contact with the small fascist groups who tried to disrupt her. (...) This climate of violence must stop. No one should lose their life for their ideas,” Manuel Bompard wrote on X.

Rima Hassan, directly involved in the incident, also stated that "the only security team with which (she) collaborates and which accompanies (her) is that of La France Insoumise, which never resorts to violence and is in no way involved in these clashes."

"Those responsible for this violence must be held accountable as soon as possible so that justice is served," the MEP wrote.

With AFP

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