The family of Louis, the 17-year-old boy beaten to death in Narbonne, has called for a major demonstration in the southern French city on Sunday, 5 July, describing it precisely not as another conventional memorial vigil but as the ‘La Dernière Marche’—‘The Last March’.
The event is due to begin at 11am. Announcing it on behalf of Louis’s mother, his aunt Marie-Julie Marteau said the family was tired of seeing ‘white marches’ held after young people were killed and wanted Louis to be the last such victim. She invited parents, residents, and politicians from across the political spectrum to attend.
Louis’s mother had already expressed her anger in an interview with French outlet Le Journal du Dimanche. ‘This is not the time for mourning; it is the time for war. It is out of the question that another mother’s or father’s heart should be broken like ours,’ she said. ‘France must be ready: we are determined, and I am angrier than ever.’ She demanded that the accused be tried as adults, called for France’s juvenile justice laws to be revised, and said she had repeatedly warned social services that her son was in danger.
Her 17-year-old son, Louis, was lured to an unfinished residential building on Narbonne’s Quai d’Alsace on 19 June and brutally beaten by a group of youths. Footage filmed and circulated online by the suspects appears to show one of them stomping on his head while others repeatedly struck his face and kicked him as he lay on the ground. He was abandoned unconscious overnight, discovered the following morning, and died in hospital on 23 June after several days in an induced coma.
‘French outlet Frontières has also raised the possibility of a racial motive’
Five suspects—three minors and two adults aged between 16 and a half and 19—have been placed under formal investigation for assassination, the French charge for premeditated murder, and remanded in custody. The group has been dispersed among detention centres and juvenile institutions across southern France. All remain presumed innocent pending trial.
The motive remains undetermined. Investigators are examining a possible revenge motive following reports that one suspect had recently been involved in a dispute with Louis. The 17-year-old reported an earlier group assault to gendarmes on 12 June, a week before the fatal beating, but did not proceed with a formal complaint.
Although the Narbonne prosecutor has said the available evidence provides ‘no basis’ for treating the attack as racially motivated, the suspects’ backgrounds have nevertheless fuelled anti-immigration sentiment surrounding the case. Social media reports and alternative news outlets have claimed that some are French-born second- or third-generation descendants of immigrants from North Africa, particularly Algeria and Tunisia. Many, including hard-right Reconquête leader Éric Zemmour, have characterized Louis’s death as a ‘francocide’, a term he uses for killings targeting native French citizens in the context of mass immigration. French outlet Frontières has also raised the possibility of a racial motive.
Following the announcement, the family’s march immediately gained national and international attention. Zemmour has already announced that he will attend, while Reconquête’s Stanislas Rigault and other right-wing activists have urged supporters to travel to Narbonne under the hashtag #LaDerniereMarche.
‘The family’s march immediately gained national and international attention’
Europe’s football ultra networks also appear to be mobilizing for the rally. The Czech-based Hooligans.cz circulated information about the march and called on ‘European friends’ to join. Casual Ultra Official, another international football ultra page, repeated the invitation, helping to carry the protest beyond French political circles. Some reports already suggest that thousands could join the 5 July rally.
Louis’s death has already prompted several demonstrations. More than 1,000 people joined an earlier march in Narbonne on 28 June, organized by right-wing activists and held without the family’s endorsement.
Louis’s father and stepmother have organized a separate memorial march in Carcassonne for Saturday, 4 July, beginning at 3pm in Parc André-Chénier. Reconquête activists have also announced a parallel ‘Last March’ in Brest on Sunday, while other activist networks have organized a rally in Paris.
Reacting to the developments, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez accused the ‘far right’ of exploiting Louis’s killing in an interview with Le Parisien published on 27 June. Describing the footage of the killing as ‘unbearable’, he said Louis had been ‘lynched to death’ but rejected the politically charged term ‘ensauvagement’ and reiterated prosecutors’ conclusion that no racial motive had been established.
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