France will summon U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner to protest comments made by the U.S. State Department regarding the death of Quentin Deranque, a far-right activist who died last week from injuries sustained in a Lyon street fight, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced Sunday.
The summons stems from a statement issued by the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau, which expressed concern over reports that Deranque was killed by left-wing militants. The bureau stated that such incidents “should concern us all,” and characterized violent radical leftism as a growing threat to public safety, calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
“We reject any instrumentalization of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” Barrot said, according to reports. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”
Deranque’s death occurred during clashes on the fringes of a student meeting featuring Rima Hassan, a far-left lawmaker. Seven individuals have been preliminarily charged in connection with the incident, with six facing charges of intentional homicide, aggravated violence, and criminal conspiracy. A seventh individual was charged with complicity in those offenses, according to French authorities.
Beyond the Deranque case, Barrot indicated that France intends to raise other concerns with Ambassador Kushner, including recent U.S. Sanctions imposed on Thierry Breton, a former European Union commissioner who oversaw social media regulations, and Nicolas Guillou, a French judge serving at the International Criminal Court. Barrot described these sanctions as “unjustified and unjustifiable.”
What we have is not the first time Kushner has been called to account by French officials. In August 2023, he was summoned to discuss a letter he sent to President Emmanuel Macron alleging insufficient action by France to combat antisemitism. France at the time rejected the allegations as running counter to international law and undermining the transatlantic partnership, according to a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry.
President Macron, speaking in September, criticized Kushner’s public accusation as inappropriate, stating that a French ambassador would not be permitted to craft similar public statements about another country. Macron also questioned the use of taxpayer funds to finance such statements. Following the incident, French foreign officials met with a representative of the U.S. Ambassador after Kushner did not attend the scheduled meeting.
