A young right-wing activist who died after being beaten by radical left-wing activists [AFP Yonhap News]

A controversy has erupted in French politics following the death of a nationalist university student who was beaten to death by radical left-wing activists.

According to the daily Le Monde on the 16th (local time), a clash occurred on the 12th in Lyon, southeastern France, between far-right and far-left groups.

At the time, a lecture by a Member of the European Parliament from the far-left party France Unbowed (LFI) was being held at Sciences Po Lyon.

Young right-wing individuals, who opposed the lecture, took to the streets to protest and got into an altercation with LFI supporters.

During this process, Quentin, a 23-year-old university student who was providing security for the right-wing protesters, was severely beaten by the opposing group. He was taken to the hospital but died on the 14th.

Amidst the sensitive period, with local elections just one month away, the political sphere is leaning towards holding the far-left party LFI responsible for this incident.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated on France 2 on the evening of the 15th, "Clearly, the far-left was behind this," adding, "Testimonies point in that direction."

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, appearing on RTL the same day, asserted, "It is clear that the far-left murdered him," and pointed out, "There are unfortunate examples where the rhetoric of LFI and the far-left leads to uncontrollable violence on social media, and further in the real world."

Marine Le Pen, a Member of Parliament from the far-right National Rally (RN) party, also wrote on X (formerly Twitter), calling the perpetrators "barbarians" and urging, "The judicial authorities must strictly punish this unprecedentedly cruel criminal act."

President Emmanuel Macron expressed his deep regret over the incident on X, stating, "In the Republic, no cause or ideology can justify murder. The very existence of our institutions is to protect the freedom of expression."

The far-left party LFI, however, has sought to minimize the fallout, asserting that there is no connection between the incident and the party.

LFI Member of the European Parliament Leïla Aïchi, who lectured at the time, reportedly expressed "shock" over the incident and claimed that none of her staff "ever resorted to violence," thus maintaining their lack of involvement, as reported by Le Figaro.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of LFI and a presidential candidate, also defended the party, stating, "We have said dozens of times that we are against violence. We have nothing to do with this incident," and argued, "Everything has been manipulated to make it seem as if our security personnel conducted some operation against that young man."

Ahead of the local elections, French security authorities have decided to increase security measures across the country, where political events are being held, to prevent similar incidents from recurring.