LYON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of people marched on Saturday in the French city of Lyon following the killing there of far-right activist Quentin Deranque, who was beaten to death last week by alleged hard-left activists in an incident that shocked the nation.
Many protesters wore surgical masks and sunglasses to cover their faces and chanted "we are at home" and "antifa assassin".
The local authority said it had reported Nazi salutes and racist insults recorded during the march to the prosecutor, following videos circulating on social media.
Police were concerned that the event in Lyon, where there is a concentration of both far-right and antifascist groups, would turn violent. Although the march had largely dissipated by 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), increased law enforcement in the city will remain deployed throughout the night.
PRESIDENT CALLED FOR CALM
French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm on Saturday morning ahead of the rallies and said he would hold a meeting with ministers on all violent groups next week.
Former centre-right Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called the killing of Deranque, 23, "France's Charlie Kirk moment", referring to last year's shooting of the U.S. conservative activist.
Seven people are under formal investigation for their alleged role in Deranque's murder, including a former aide to a lawmaker for the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, which has condemned the killing.
Deranque's death was the first allegedly carried out by hard-left individuals since 2022, newspaper Le Monde has reported. Reuters has reported at least five killings allegedly carried out by far-right individuals in the same period, including one investigated as terrorism.
FAR-RIGHT GROUPS
The organiser of the march was Aliette Espieux, an anti-abortion activist, and some far-right groups announced they would participate. The far-right party the National Rally urged supporters to avoid rallies for fear of unrest.
There were also small groups shouting "we are all antifascist" at the side of the march, and a banner saying "Lyon is antifa" flew from a window near its beginning, images on BFMTV show.
Lyon mayor Gregory Doucet had attempted to stop the march from going ahead. He told reporters on Saturday that he was worried about calls for French and European far-right groups to travel to Lyon for the event.
"We have fought against far-right violence during our term. We have managed to close down many premises, to shut down organisations because we know that certain individuals are violent and so we were worried," he said.
According to the local authority, some 3,200 people were present at the Lyon march. There were smaller marches planned in a number of other French towns.
(Reporting by Ardee Napolitano in Lyon and Layli Foroudi in Paris; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan and Jan Harvey)
