Paris intends to summon its US ambassador, Charles Kushner, to protest Washington's position on the killing of far-right activist Quentin Duranc after he was beaten in the city of Lyon, according to what French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed on Sunday. The US Embassy in France and the US State Department's Office of Counterterrorism said they were monitoring the case, warning in a statement that "radical violence is on the rise among those affiliated with the leftist movement" and should be treated as a threat to public security.
Published on: 02/22/2026 - 13:00 Last updated: 02/23/2026 - 07:21
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday that his country intends to summon US Ambassador Charles Kushner to protest the United States’ position on the killing of a right-wing extremist young man, after he was beaten in the city of Lyon.
Barrow said in radio statements: “We will summon the American ambassador to France, given that the United States embassy in France made a comment on this tragedy (...) that concerns the local community.”
He continued: "We reject any exploitation of this tragedy...for political ends."
Read also: The Trump administration warns of “violent left-wing extremism” in France following the killing of a far-right activist
On the other hand, the minister said that he would raise the issue of the US sanctions imposed on Thierry Breton, who was a former European Union commissioner, and on Nicholas Guillot, a judge at the International Criminal Court, and described these measures as attacks on the independence of decision-making in the European Union and on the independence of the international judicial system.
The Tribune newspaper reported on Saturday that French President Emmanuel Macron wrote to US President Donald Trump asking him to lift sanctions on Breton and Guillot.
On Friday, the American administration condemned what it called “terrorism” in France and warned against “left-wing violence,” as it put it, after right-wing activist Kantan Durank was beaten to death.
Deputy Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers said Duranke's killing shows "why we take political violence, terrorism, so hard."
Derank (23 years old) died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a protest against a conference in which European Representative Rima Hassan of the radical left-wing France Proud party participated in the city of Lyon last week.
France 24/AFP/Reuters
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