Thousands of supporters marched in grief and anger Saturday to honor an anti-fascist activist who died after a brawl with far-right militants, as authorities opened a manslaughter probe against a 20-year-old man suspected of delivering the fatal blow, reports The Washington Post.
France’s Socialist government also took a first step toward banning a far right group that the suspect and four alleged accomplices had claimed ties with, according to the Paris prosecutor.
The death of 18-year-old Clement Meric, a student at Paris’ prestigious Sciences-Po political science university, has renewed concerns that far-right groups are on the rise in France and across Europe.
A medical examiner determined that Meric died from head trauma sustained in the fight that erupted after a chance encounter Wednesday between the far-right militants and anti-fascist activists including Meric in an upscale Paris shopping district, prosecutor Francois Molins said at a news conference. He said he had sought a murder investigation concerning one suspect — a security guard who was identified only as Esteban — and charges of group violence against Esteban and three other men over the fight that led to Meric’s death.
However, late Saturday, an investigating judge rejected Molins’ effort to pursue a murder investigation, and instead filed preliminary charges against Esteban for “deadly blows” — which amounts to violence leading to death without intention to kill, said prosecutors’ office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre. If convicted Esteban faces up to 15 years in prison.
Read more of this Associated Press report published by The Washington Post.