The Lyon prosecutor's office announced on Saturday the death of Quentin, 23, hospitalized for two days after being attacked on the sidelines of a conference by LFI MEP Rima Hassan at Sciences Po. The investigation is now continuing for "aggravated fatal assaults". The young man's family called for "calm and restraint", while denouncing a "crime", according to their lawyer.

Published on: 02/14/2026 - 7:09 p.m. Modified on: 02/20/2026 - 3:51 p.m.

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After a violent attack on the sidelines of a conference by LFI MEP Rima Hassan in Lyon, Quentin, a 23-year-old student who had been hospitalized since Thursday in serious condition, died, the prosecution announced on Saturday February 14.

“The investigation is continuing, it is now being conducted on the grounds of aggravated fatal assault, in addition to violence aggravated by three circumstances,” said the Lyon prosecutor’s office in a press release.

The young man's family called for "calm and restraint", while denouncing a "crime", according to their lawyer Fabien Rajon.

Also launching a call for "calm, restraint and respect", President Emmanuel Macron hoped that "the authors of this ignominy" would be condemned.

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The leader of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, called for justice to condemn "with the greatest rigor" the perpetrators of a "criminal act of incredible violence".

Quentin had been placed in a coma, with a life-threatening prognosis, at the Edouard Herriot hospital, after being taken care of "in serious condition" early Thursday evening by emergency services, in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon.

“Quentin’s family trusts the investigators”

According to the family's lawyer, "an ambush, methodically prepared, would appear to have been set up for Quentin by organized and trained individuals, in very large numbers and armed, some with masked faces, having carried out prior scouting and a priori having complicity."

“These facts, if confirmed by the investigation (...) constitute a crime,” Mr. Rajon wrote in a press release. “Calling for calm and restraint, Quentin’s family trusts the investigators and the justice system so that those responsible for his death will be quickly arrested and held accountable,” it added.

No official communication has so far specified the circumstances of the attack or the identity of the attackers. On Friday, the Lyon prosecutor's office indicated that "at this stage, the context and circumstances of these facts must be determined." “Numerous hearings” took place all day Saturday, a source close to the investigation told AFP.

TF1 broadcast on Saturday in its 8 p.m. news a video presented as that of the attack, where we see three men being kicked and punched, one of whom remains on the ground, apparently inanimate.

According to the version of the Némésis collective, close to the extreme right, Quentin was part of the security service responsible for ensuring the security of its activists who were demonstrating against a conference by Rima Hassan, scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the IEP in Lyon, located in the 7th arrondissement. Around 6:40 p.m., near the Sciences Po building, Némésis activists were “attacked” by anti-fascist activists, according to the collective.

Also read: What we know about the beating of a young identity activist in Lyon

The president of the collective, Alice Cordier, broadcast on

Still according to the identity collective's version, the men, including Quentin, were "unable to come to the aid" of the activists "because they were pursued by a group of around thirty antifas". It was after that Quentin was allegedly "attacked": he was "swept to the ground, his head hit, then he was kicked to death", claims the collective. The young man, seriously injured, was rescued around 7:40 p.m. by the firefighters, Quai Fulchiron, located nearly 2 km away and about twenty minutes on foot from the IEP.

“Neither security agent nor member of any security service”

According to the lawyer, Quentin "received blows to the head even while he was lying on the ground lifeless, the individuals who were attacking him acting with a desire to kill that is difficult to question."

Némésis claimed to have recognized among the attackers a parliamentary collaborator of the LFI deputy Raphaël Arnault, who would be an “active member of the Young Guard”, an anti-fascist group of which Raphaël Arnault is one of the founders, dissolved in 2025 for “violent actions”.

The family's lawyer affirmed that Quentin "was neither a security agent nor a member of any law enforcement agency." “A student of mathematics, practicing tennis and philosophy”, he was “invested in pastoral life, in particular within the choir of his parish”, indicated Me Rajon.

He “defended his convictions without violence, advocating peaceful activism” and “had never been implicated in the slightest affair in the past,” he concluded.

A rally in tribute to Quentin took place on Saturday in Angers and other calls for gatherings were launched for Sunday, notably in Montpellier and Paris.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called on prefects to “strengthen vigilance around gatherings of a political nature, as well as around campaign offices”.

With AFP

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