Wave of arrests over killing of French nationalist piles pressure on far left

Two more people have been detained by French authorities investigating the killing of a far-right student activist by suspected radical left militants in Lyon, bringing the total in custody to 11.

Quentin Deranque, 23, suffered a fatal brain injury when he was beaten and kicked during a demonstration last week on the sidelines of a conference held by Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament for hard-left party France Unbowed (LFI).

The wave of arrests began on Wednesday, and included a parliamentary assistant to LFI politician Raphaël Arnault.

Arnault said his assistant, Jacques-Elie Favrot, had halted all his work in parliament and his contract was being terminated.

Even before his arrest, Favrot's lawyer said he formally denied responsibility for the activist's death and was unable to continue his duties because of death threats.

Although the radical left party of leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has sought to distance the party from Deranque's violent death, LFI has come under attack from rivals across the political spectrum, less than a month before France votes in key municipal elections.

The political climate is febrile ahead of the vote - seen as the last test of public opinion before next year's presidential elections. Within the past month Sébastien Lecornu's minority government had to survive two no-confidence motions to push through this year's budget.

LFI party co-ordinator Manuel Bompard announced on Wednesday that the party's Paris HQ was briefly evacuated because of a bomb threat, and went on to accuse a large cross-section of the political and media classes of making days of false and defamatory statements.

"I call for an end to this absolutely despicable exploitation of the tragedy that took place last Thursday evening in Lyon, for which France Unbowed bears absolutely no responsibility," he told reporters. "This climate should worry everybody."

Videos captured from the scene show three people lying on the ground coming under attack from a larger group, all of them wearing hoods.

A feminist anti-immigration group called Némésis said Deranque had been outside the venue to protect its members. Némésis has blamed Young Guard for the attack - an allegation it denies.

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon has urged the party to suspend Arnault from its parliamentary group because of the MP's links to Anti-Fascist Young Guard, which has been blamed for the violence a short distance from Sciences Po University in Lyon.

A minute's silence was held in the National Assembly on Tuesday for the young activist, and politicians lined up to criticise the radical-left leader and his colleagues.

Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally said Mélenchon had "moral and political responsibility" for what had happened and even former LFI MP Alexis Corbière called on the party to take stock politically of what had happened.

Sébastien Lecornu said that "without undermining the presumption of innocence" LFI had to "clean up" its statements, ideas and its ranks fast.

Mélenchon hit back, saying he refused to take lessons from Lecornu.

However, more moderate figures on the left such as Socialist ex-President François Hollande have accused LFI of being responsible for lowering the tone of politics in France.

"It's clear there can be no alliance in the municipal elections between the Socialists or reformist left-wing parties and LFI in the second round," Hollande said on Wednesday. "The relationship is over."

For months the party had indulged in a kind of "brutalisation" of debate so there was no political space between the far left and far right, said Hollande.

The actions of police have also come in for criticism, as local forces were warned that Rima Hassan's event was due to take place but riot police were not on the scene at the time of the fatal attack.