After the death of Quentin Deranque a few days ago in Lyon, the Minister of Higher Education assured Tuesday that there would be no other "meetings" in universities in the event of a risk of disturbance to public order. Furthermore, the National Assembly will observe a minute of silence at 3 p.m. in tribute to the young nationalist activist.

Published on: 02/17/2026 - 12:34 Modified on: 02/20/2026 - 15:24

Political meetings in universities under conditions. The Minister of Higher Education, Philippe Baptiste, assured Tuesday February 17 on BFMTV that there would be no other “meetings” in universities in the event of a risk of disturbance to public order. This declaration takes place a few days after the death of young nationalist activist Quentin Deranque in Lyon.

“With the risks we have today which are now sadly very very clear, obviously no, there will be no other meetings of this type in the establishments,” indicated the minister, specifying that he had sent a circular to the prefects and rectors to this effect. However, he stressed that the decision would ultimately be up to university presidents.

Also read: Death of Quentin in Lyon: why is La France insoumise being blamed?

“Discourses which are intended to inflame young people, to put them on the street to have violent interactions (...), it is not possible to continue to have that today within establishments because the risk of disorder is proven and therefore (...) there is obviously a very simple way to prohibit” this type of event, pointed out Philippe Baptiste.

Rectors and prefects requested

According to the Némésis collective, close to the far right and claiming to be feminist, Quentin Deranque was responsible, on Thursday, for ensuring the security of several of his activists who came to demonstrate against a conference by La France Insoumise (LFI) MEP Rima Hassan at Sciences Po Lyon.

The 23-year-old young man died after being beaten by at least six masked and hooded individuals, according to statements from the Lyon prosecutor on Monday. While the government pointed the finger at the anti-fascist group "Young Guard", the prosecutor refused to say more about the profile of the attackers.

Philippe Baptiste expressed on Tuesday "an immense anger to see that the aggressive, harsh, violent political discourse is transformed into physical violence", believing that "there is a moral responsibility of LFI which is extremely strong".

See alsoMurder of Quentin in Lyon: “Political violence to the point of murder”

The circular mentioned by Philippe Baptiste, also signed by the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nunez, recalls the criteria that university presidents must take into account to authorize the provision of premises for students who request them for a public meeting: they must reconcile "academic freedoms and freedoms of expression" and "maintaining order in the establishment and the proper functioning of the public service", depending on the "context" and "content of the meeting".

“While political violence has reached a new peak”, the circular asks rectors and prefects “to provide their expertise” by taking into account the “very particular climate of tensions and even extreme violence around such events, as evidenced by the tragedy which has just plunged Lyon into mourning”. The document reminds prefects and rectors of their role in supporting university presidents in making decisions on the cancellation of events.

Minute of silence at the Assembly

Furthermore, a minute of silence was observed at the National Assembly on Tuesday, at 3 p.m., in tribute to Quentin Deranque.

“No one should die at 23. No one should die for their ideas. On behalf of all of us, I send our thoughts to his family and his bereaved loved ones,” declared the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, before calling for this minute of silence, unanimously respected by the deputies, standing in the hemicycle.

This decision was taken by the conference of presidents of the Assembly and "no one opposed it", according to parliamentary sources. The minute of silence took place before questions to the government.

Éric Ciotti, allied with the far-right National Rally party, welcomed the holding of the minute of silence, explaining that he had made the request himself.

“We cannot have the rhetoric of confrontation constantly and not see that what sometimes happens in this chamber can infuse throughout society,” declared Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to the deputies, during the question session to the government, calling on political leaders to “responsibility”.

“It’s time for you to clean up.”

Sébastien Lecornu, who responded to the leader of the Les Républicains deputies Laurent Wauquiez, also asked that "the judicial truth passes", "without any pressure on the investigators and on the judicial authority".

The head of the executive also asked LFI to "clean up" its "ideas" and its "ranks", judging "absolutely despicable" and "abject" the defense of the boss of LFI deputies Mathilde Panot in the Assembly.

“What you have just done is absolutely despicable and abject. (...) It is time for you to clean up, Madam President Panot, clean up your words, clean up your ideas and above all clean up your ranks,” he said to the deputies during questions to the government.

Mathilde Panot had just accused the government of not having planned "any security measures" around the presence that evening of the identity collective Némésis, which demonstrated against a conference by the rebellious Rima Hassan, and of not having "taken into account [her] alerts".

“The Young Guard kills, and La France insoumise should condemn it,” declared Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin. “There is indisputable violence” which concerns La France insoumise and the Young Guard, said the Minister of Justice before the deputies, accusing LFI of considering this anti-fascist movement as “an allied organization”.

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Mathilde Panot, head of the LFI group, had earlier declared at a press conference that she had supported the request for a minute of silence. “We supported it while repeating, and I hope that the President of the National Assembly will follow this, that we hope that this minute of silence is a worthy tribute (...) and that it is not the place of exploitation which would, I believe, be extremely damaging for our Assembly,” she continued.

However, she pointed to an “outbreak of violence from the far right”, taking as an example the death of former Argentine rugby international Federico Martin Aramburu, murdered in Paris on March 19, 2022, and emphasizing that there had been no minute of silence in his honor.

The coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, assured Tuesday on France Inter that there was "no link" between his movement and the death of young nationalist activist Quentin Deranque, rejecting "false" accusations. “I call on everyone to be responsible and vigilant because, when we make unfounded, serious and false accusations, it has consequences,” he said.

With AFP

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