France will summon US Ambassador Charles Kushner over the State Department’s comments on the activist’s death
France will summon the American Ambassador Charles Kusher to dispute comments made by the Trump administration about the death of a right-wing activist, the foreign minister said on Sunday.
Jean-Noel Barrot was responding to a statement from the US State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau, which said “the reports, confirmed by the French Interior Minister, that Quentin Deranque was killed by leftist militants, should concern us all.”
The State Department said in its statement to X that “violent violations are increasing and your role in the death of Quentin Deranque represents a serious threat to public safety. We will continue to monitor the situation and expect to see the perpetrators of violence brought to justice.”
Deranque, a right-wing activist, died of brain injuries last week after being beaten in the French city of Lyon. He was attacked during a fight on the sidelines of a student meeting where far-left lawmaker Rima Hassan was the keynote speaker.
His killing highlighted the tense political situation ahead of next year’s presidential vote. French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm on Saturday as around 3,000 people joined a march in Lyon organized by far-right groups to pay tribute to Deranque.
“We reject any use of this massacre, which has left the French family in mourning, for political purposes,” said Barrot. “We have no lessons to learn, especially on the issue of violence, from the international opposition.”
Seven people were charged in the first instance. The Lyon public prosecutor’s office requested that each of them be charged with first degree murder, aggravated assault and conspiracy. Six suspects have been charged in all three cases. The seventh was charged with complicity in first degree murder, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy.
Barrot said he had other topics to discuss with Kushner, including US decisions to impose sanctions on Thierry Breton, the former European Union commissioner responsible for overseeing telecommunications regulations, and Nicolas Guillou, a French judge at the International Criminal Court.
Barrot said both were targeted for “unfair and unfair” sanctions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not say when the meeting would take place.
This is the second time Kushner has been called by France. In August last year, he was there called upon the letter he sent to Macron saying that the country has not done enough to fight antisemitism.
In a statement obtained by CBS News at the time, France rejected the allegations, saying it was “against international law.”
“And they fall short of the level of transatlantic relations between France and the United States and the trust that should exist between allies,” the statement said.
Macron said “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” in September that it was out of line for Kushner, who is the father of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to publicly accuse him of taking insufficient steps to combat racism.
Macron said that the ambassador of France will never be allowed to present similar speeches to the public of another country because that would put the risk of negotiating with those nations.
Therefore, even if you are a person who wants to express freely,” said Macron. “If you are a diplomat, you must follow the law of diplomacy. … The [American] Taxpayers’ money is not being used properly to support this type of statement.”
Foreign officials of France met with the representative of the American embassy since the ambassador did not come to the meeting.
