00:00Here in France, the murder investigation continues in the Quentin de Renque case.
00:05He is the far-right activist who died after being beaten to death last week in the city of Lyon
00:10by suspected far-left supporters.
00:13His death has fueled political tensions in France.
00:16And on Wednesday, far-right leader Jordan Bardella accused President Emmanuel Macron and his allies of helping strengthen the hard
00:24-left.
00:25France 24 senior reporter James André has been covering the story for us and joins us in the studio with
00:30the latest.
00:31Hi there, James. Great to see you.
00:33What can you tell us about where this murder investigation stands?
00:36Well, look, the inquiries are ongoing.
00:38For now, what we have learned just minutes ago is that some of these arrests for interrogation, what we call
00:47the garde Ă vue in France,
00:48are being extended for another 24 hours for some members of this group of people who have been arrested.
00:5311 arrests have been made.
00:55These people are in for questioning, and they're being held for the time being.
00:59And what we will know more at 5 p.m. this afternoon, various times, because, indeed, the prosecutor will be
01:05giving a press conference about the case.
01:08So what we do know, though, is that there are some members who are very close to one of the
01:11MPs in the French Parliament, and that is Raphaël Arnaud.
01:15This, of course, has been a big story here in the French media, Raphaël Arnaud, who is the co-founder
01:19of the extreme left movement that, indeed, these people are thought to have been part of, who, indeed, beat Quentin
01:28Durant to death.
01:30And so he co-founded this movement in 2018, and one of his very close collaborators has been questioned in
01:39this investigation.
01:40His name is Jacques-Élie Favreau.
01:42He's been questioned by the police.
01:44His lawyer has publicly said that, indeed, he did take part in the violence, but was not the one who
01:50was, you know, at the origin of this, the killing of this person.
01:54He didn't give the fatal blow.
01:55The killing damage.
01:56Exactly.
01:56So, Quentin Durant.
01:57And so, indeed, a lot of people here on the political strike front are asking for this MP to step
02:01down.
02:01So, you know, we do have a real crisis here, both at the Parliament and we are waiting for this
02:07investigation to carry on.
02:08Now, this terrible case, it's really inflamed political tensions here between the far right and the far left.
02:17There are municipal elections coming up in March.
02:19We've got a presidential election coming up next year.
02:21How are we seeing accusations being thrown out on both sides?
02:27Well, absolutely.
02:28What we are seeing is, first, France Unbowed, which is, you know, the party that is allied, in a sense,
02:34to this movement called the Young Guard.
02:39And, I mean, Mr. Mélenchon, who is the leader of that party, basically stands by Raphaël Arnault, who is this
02:45MP, who is indeed being, you know, questioned his position at the Parliament as being questioned.
02:49And, basically, all the, you know, higher ranks of the party are standing by their MP, with Mr. MĂ©lenchon saying
02:57that he's a very good MP, that he's a hard worker.
03:00But on the other hand, what we're having, of course, is the extreme right parties, as well as a large
03:04part of the centre, saying that, you know, this shows that LFI, France Unbowed, is an extremist party, that they
03:12are bent on violent tactics and that, indeed, they should not be voted for.
03:15So, what we have is a lot of political wrangling around what has happened, with violence, political violence, in a
03:22sense.
03:22Since yesterday, for example, the France Unbowed headquarters had to be evacuated because of a bomb threat, there is a
03:29march that is planned by extreme right-wing activists this weekend in Lyon.
03:35And the mayor is trying to get that march banned because he was worried for a rise in tension and
03:40violence.
03:41And, of course, what we have here is, basically, the, you know, the national rally and the centre, also, basically,
03:49trying to very much label France Unbowed as a violent party.
03:53And we even have left-wing parties who were allied in the previous parliamentary elections with France Unbowed, saying that
04:03they cannot uphold these alliances, given this climate of violence.
04:06And this was a former president saying that, indeed, this alliance could not carry on.
04:17I'm talking about François Hollande, of course, from the Socialist Party.
04:20So, yes, this is, indeed, redesigning the political spectrum just before these very important elections, both municipal and presidential.
04:28And it's a very difficult political time for France Unbowed, who, for now, doesn't seem to have established a clear
04:36strategy.
04:37Intense socially here in France.
04:39James André, thank you so much for putting this into context for us.
04:42Appreciate it.
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