Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó urged the European Union in September 2025 to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. As a terrorist organization, Antifa’s financiers could be subject to investigation, while cross-border cooperations could be formed to dismantle its networks across Europe. Hungary’s call came shortly after left-wing extremism claimed Charlie Kirk’s life in America. Already then, Hungary warned: ‘This violent far-left network has carried out brutal attacks across Europe, including in Budapest.’ This, however, was similarly disregarded as earlier attempts by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which attempted to pass an almost identical resolution in the EP in 2023.
Europe’s inaction against the rising threat of Antifa movements led to tragic consequences. A French student was beaten to death on the streets of Lyon by a violent Anti-fascist group. On 12 February, the young man was participating in a protest, helping to ensure the security of some women from a right-wing feminist group, the Némésis. According to the female group, the victim was one of 15 young men who volunteered to act as Garde-de-dame for their activists. Némésis was in Lyon to protest the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party’s event featuring its MEP, Rima Hassan, at Sciences Po. The counterprotest was attacked, and the victim, Quentin Deranque, was severely beaten by an Antifa group. The 23-year-old mathematics student tragically lost his life in the hospital within days of the attack.
Videos of the incident show hooded attackers as they surround and beat two men, whilst the victims are lying on the ground. Quentin suffered multiple kicks to his head by at least six different individuals. Although he was able to walk away from the scene, he later collapsed and was placed in a coma. He passed away on Friday evening in the hospital. According to the Brussels Signal, Quentin Deranque was described as a religious Catholic who did charitable work in his community.
The violent activists of the radical left group were closely associated with the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, which is now under fire for the beating. The Young Guard, the anti-fascist group that is responsible for the attack on Quentin’s life, was founded by Raphaël Arnault, who serves as LFI’s representative in the National Assembly. The Ministry of Interior ordered to disband the group in June 2025, as ‘in support of an anti-fascist ideology, “the Young Guard” incites violent acts.’ Since this order, the LFI has been assisting the Young Guard with legal aid to fight back against its possible ban. On Tuesday, nine suspects were arrested in the case; one of them is Jacques-Elie Favrot, parliamentary aide of Young Guard founder Raphaël Arnault. According to the accusation, the parliamentary assistant personally participated in the beating; this, however, he denies. Despite these connections to the militant left-wing group, LFI rejects any responsibility for the attack. Party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon insisted that the LFI ‘has nothing to do with this story’.
‘Quentin suffered multiple kicks to his head by at least six different individuals’
Following in the party leader’s footsteps, French Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, whose event sparked the protests, cynically positioned herself as the victim of the tragic incident: ‘I would rather be attacked, end up in the hospital if necessary, than have unrest, violence and, more tragically, someone dying,’ Hassan said.
The actions of the Antifa group in France bear a striking resemblance to the attacks that took place on the streets of Budapest a couple of years ago. In February 2023 a group of Antifa terrorists carried out multiple attacks in Budapest. Its members arrived in Hungary from Western Europe. One of the group’s German nationals, a transgender person known as Maja T, was recently sentenced to eight years in prison for participating in the violent acts. Maja T’s group consisted of 19 members and was responsible for physically injuring nine people on the streets of Budapest. Their victims, who were selected based on their ‘far-right appearance’, were left with crushed bones and head injuries.
While Maja T was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in Hungary, Ilaria Salis, the Italian member of the group, escaped justice. As she was in detention, she was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the far-left Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra party (both Ilaria Salis and Rima Hassan sit in the Left group in the European Parliament). As a representative, she gained parliamentary protection and therefore had to be released by the Hungarian authorities. Although Hungary requested that her immunity be lifted so the investigation could proceed, the European Parliament rejected it, arguing that the case against her constituted a ‘political trial’. Now, the very same ideology she stands for in the European Parliament claimed its victim on the streets of Lyon.
Following the beatings in Budapest and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Hungary and the United States acted and designated Antifa a terrorist organization. Belated, but will the European Union finally realize that steps must be taken to stop the spread of this ideology and dismantle Antifa networks in Europe?
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