French President Emmanuel Macron appealed on Saturday for cooler heads to prevail ahead of a rally for a far-right activist whose killing, blamed on the hard left, has put the country on edge.
Macron also said his government would hold a meeting next week to discuss "violent action groups" in the wake of the fatal beating of Quentin Deranque, which has ignited tensions between the left and right ahead of the 2027 presidential vote.
The 23-year-old died from head injuries following clashes between radical left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a demonstration against a politician from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party in the southeastern city of Lyon last week.
A rally, widely publicized online by ultra-nationalist and far-right groups, is expected to be attended by 2,000 to 3,000 people, with the authorities fearing further clashes with left-wing protesters.
Speaking at a farming trade fair in Paris, Macron urged "everyone to remain" calm ahead of the rally for Deranque in Lyon, which is set to go ahead under high security later on Saturday despite Lyon's left-wing green mayor asking the state to ban it.
"In the Republic, no violence is legitimate," said Macron, who will be unable to contest next year's election after hitting the two-term limit. "There is no place for militias, no matter where they come from."
- 'Over 1,000 neo-Nazis' -
Ahead of the Lyon rally, some residents living near the march's planned route had barricaded the ground floor windows of their apartments, fearing unrest.
"At my age, I'm not going to play the tough guy. If I have to go out somewhere, I'll avoid the places where they're marching," said Lyon local Jean Echeverria, 87.
"They'll just keep fighting each other, it'll never end. Between the extreme of this and the extreme of that, it's non-stop," he added.
Two friends of Deranque's were behind the official call to march in his honor.
But according to the Deranque family's lawyer, Fabien Rajon, his parents will not take part in the rally, which they have urged to go ahead "without violence" and "without political statements".
Several ultra-right-wing groups, including Deranque's nationalist Allobroges Bourgoin faction, have nonetheless heavily publicized the march on social media.
The authorities fear that far-right and hard-left activists from elsewhere in Europe might travel to France for the event, stoking concerns of further unrest.
Jordan Bardella, the head of the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party -- which senses its best chance ever of scoring the presidency in next year's vote -- has urged supporters not to go.
"We ask you, except in very specific and strictly supervised local situations not to attend these gatherings nor to associate the National Rally with them," he wrote in a message sent to party officials and seen by AFP.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard backed the Lyon mayor's call for a ban, warning on X that the march would be a "fascist demonstration" which "over 1,000 neo-Nazis from all over Europe" were expected to attend.
But Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declined to ban the rally, arguing that he had to "strike a balance between maintaining public order and freedom of expression" and pledging an "extremely large police deployment".
- 'Wound' -
Deranque's death has provoked a reaction from US President Donald Trump's administration, with state department official Sarah Rogers on Friday branding the killing "terrorism" and claiming that "violent radical leftism is on the rise".
Likewise, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday called Deranque's death "a wound for all Europe", prompting Macron to urge the far-right leader to stay out of French matters.
Six men suspected of involvement in the fatal assault have been charged over the killing, while a parliamentary assistant to a radical left-wing MP has also been charged with complicity.
A far-right collective called Nemesis, which claims to "defend Western women" from the violence allegedly wrought by immigrants, said Deranque had been at the protest in Lyon to protect its members when he was assaulted by "anti-fascist" activists.
Having urged both the far right and hard left to clean up their acts, Macron said his administration would hold a meeting next week "take stock of violent action groups which are active and have links with political parties of any description".
