Eleven people, including two aides to a French far-left lawmaker, were arrested in France overnight and early on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a far-right activist last weekend in Lyon, according to the Lyon prosecutor’s office, which has opened a murder investigation.

Among those arrested were at least one aide and two other people connected to Raphael Arnault, a lawmaker from far-left party France Unbowed (LFI), who said on Tuesday that the aide, Jacques-Elie Favrot, had “stopped all parliamentary work”.

The prosecutor did not immediately confirm the report and Arnault did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
Far-right activist Quentin Deranque, 23, died on Saturday after being beaten by hard-left activists outside a conference centre in Lyon where Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament, was speaking.

The prosecutor’s office said seven of the suspects detained were investigated for possible murder, while the other four were investigated for helping others escape police searches.