Hard-left mayor of Paris suburb becomes icon for protesting students
Thrusting himself into the heart of the protests by high school students that have shaken France, the hard-left mayor of a Paris suburb has become an icon for protesters with his full-throated support of their movement and physical presence on the streets.
Bally Bagayoko, 53, was elected in March as mayor of the suburb of Saint-Denis, which has a large population of immigrant origin, for his hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party.
Born and brought up in a neighbouring Paris suburb and the son of parents of Malian origin, he has championed protesters’ demands for better conditions at high schools, saying low-income areas in France like Saint-Denis are discriminated against because of infrastructure that is poorer than in higher-income areas.
A video that went viral this week showed Bagayoko with his arms spread wide as he sought to protect a group of protesters from advancing heavily-armoured anti-riot police.
The mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, literally used himself as a human shield to protect students from police violence
— Erica Ifill (@wickdchiq.bsky.social) 7 October 2026 at 02:11
“Hey! Stop! Go back!” he shouted at the police.
“I stepped in to prevent them hurting the students,” he told US-based international broadcaster CNN which also broadcast the footage.
“He goes out on the ground to support us. He goes without bodyguards,” Kamelia, 17, a final year high school student, told AFP. “He understands young people, which inevitably means his popularity is going to soar.”
Other videos have shown him leading protests surrounded by cheering high school students shouting “Bally! Bally!”
On Thursday, Bagayoko was again back on the streets at a protest in Bastille square in Paris, posing for selfies and urging President Emmanuel Macron to “apologise” for the injuries suffered by students in the protests. Members of the security forces have also been wounded.
The images of a French politician in the rough-and-tumble of a protest spawned memes generated by AI comparing him to Spiderman and the moniker “superbagayoko”.
“I am not a hero,” he told French online outlet Booska-P. “We should act with a desire to spread a message, and for de-escalation, but also to demand real rights,” he said.
While unafraid to be at the heart of the protests, the father of four is nonetheless immaculately presented in a sharply tailored suit and tie.
A crisp and confident media performer, he was a semi-professional basketball player and coach and during the campaign posted an impressive video of himself scoring a basket with his back turned. Before becoming mayor, his day job was as a manager for the Paris public transport operator RATP.
But as a leading representative of the LFI, the movement accused by the government of whipping up protest tensions, he has also courted controversy.
To denounce the French state’s inability to “correct inequalities,” Bagayoko removed the official portrait of President Emmanuel Macron from his office as soon as he took up his duties in Saint-Denis.
He caused a political storm by declaring during the protests that “violence can, at a certain point, be legitimate” while adding: “whenever it can be avoided, it is better.”
Paris police chief Patrice Faure reported him to the judicial authorities for alleged “incitement” to commit violence, which could prompt the opening of an investigation.
Eric Ciotti, an ally of far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, said the French government should use its powers to dismiss Bagayoko for “inciting and stoking” violence.
Bagayoko has accused police of committing violence and using excessive force in the protests and said he has himself been hit by teargas. He has also urged “calm” from all sides.
Opponents also alleged the videos showed him dancing close to a fire that had been lit by protesters – he insisted however that he had been trying to put out the flames.
Bagayoko, who spent his professional career at RATP, leads a suburb with a population of 150,000, the biggest in Paris.
After being elected, the practicing Muslim was immediately targeted by false rumours and fake videos notably alleging he had described Saint-Denis as a “city of blacks” (ville des noirs).
In fact he had said ville des rois (city of kings) in a nod to the history of the great gothic Saint-Denis cathedral which houses the tombs of kings of France.
After Tuesday’s mass protests by students, he denounced the “totally disproportionate use of force against young people who are simply asking to be heard”.
To the teenagers protesting, he said: “Make your voices heard. But do not give in to any provocation. Stay united and non-violent.”
