French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said he would summon US ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, over US State Department comments related to the recent killing of French far-right activist, Quentin Deranque.
Deranque, 23, died from severe head injuries sustained two days previously in Lyon when he was attacked by masked men allegedly part of a banned far-left French group, Jeune Garde Antifasciste.
An outpouring of criticism followed Deranque’s death, including statements from the Trump Administration, characterizing the attack as an act of left-wing terrorism. The US State Department Bureau of Counter-Terrorism separately stated in a post on X, “Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque's death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.”
The post was later shared by the US embassy in France, which prompted condemnation from the French Foreign Ministry and the summons of US ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, to protest the comments.
“We are summoning the US ambassador to France because the embassy issued a commentary on this event which concerns the national community. We reject any interference in this event,” Foreign Minister Barrot said in an interview with radio station France Inter.
Phone footage of the fatal incident showed Deranque on the ground being kicked and punched repeatedly by masked and hooded men, which has sparked widespread upheaval across France.
French authorities have arrested a total of 11 people connected to the killing of Deranque and charged two alleged perpetrators with murder.
Kushner has previously been summoned by French authorities over criticism of France’s handling of rising antisemitism in the country.
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal in August of 2025, Kushner, who is Jewish, accused the French government of a “lack of sufficient action” to account for the “dramatic rise of antisemitism” in the country.
Broader political fallout
Deranque’s death has sparked broader political outrage and commentary across Europe as well as the US.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a conservative nationalist, criticised the French handling of left-wing extremism, stating across social media outlets that the killing “by groups linked to left-wing extremism... is a wound for all of Europe.”
She went on to condemn what she saw as a “climate of ideological hatred sweeping several nations.”
In response to Meloni’s comments, French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, during his official visit to India, declared, “Let everyone stay home,” and fired back directly at Meloni.
“I’m always struck by the fact that people who are nationalists, who don’t want to be bothered in their own country, are always the first to comment on what’s happening elsewhere.”
Both Macron and Foreign Minister Barrot have characterized the commentary from Meloni and the US State Department as “interference” and denounced the politicization of Deranque's death.
“We reject any instrumentalization of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” Barrot told French media outlets.