France confronts racism after election of first black mayor

PARIS: Several thousand people marched through the streets of Paris’ largest suburb on Saturday to denounce racism after the town’s newly elected black mayor was subject to disparaging comments on social media and national television shows.

Bally Bagayoko, 52, of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, was elected mayor of Saint-Denis in the first round of municipal elections on March 15.

The Frenchman born to Malian parents and brought up in the neighbourhood was almost immediately targeted by racist disinformation and remarks, some aired on one of the country’s most watched news channels.

Demonstrators gathered on the steps of Saint-Denis’s town hall, a town of 150,000 is one of France’s most diverse, with a large immigrant population. Music bands, trades unions and associations joined the demonstation.

“We come to state firmly and definitively our visceral attachment to the values of the Republic embodied by those who are heirs of immigration,” said Bagayoko.

He attacked what he said were “failing, sometimes even complicit institutions”.

Also present was LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon. He denounced “a sickening wave of racism coming from the political and media elites who, without reservation, without restraint, have displayed their contempt for a part of our people.”

Govt minister absent

Aurore Berge, the government’s minister against discrimination did not attend the event. “If there is one minister who should have been there, it is her,” said Bagayoko when he was asked about her absence — but he did thank her for having reached out by telephone to express her solidarity.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu this week also denounced what he described as the “normalisation of evil and racism” following the campaign against Bagayoko.

Bagayoko has filed a legal complaint against the CNews television channel, often described as France’s Fox News, over comments about him made by one guest on the show.

Paris prosecutors announced on Thursday that they had opened an investigation into possible public insults of a racist nature over some of the remarks broadcast on CNews.

A separate investigation had been opened into the racist abuse the mayor received on the X platform, after the comments broadcast on CNews.

A tale of two races

Switchboard operators at Saint-Denis town hall have reported receiving multiple racist calls daily, including inquiries about whether the town is for “Blacks and Arabs” or if headscarves are required for school.

The mayor has filed a legal complaint against the news channel CNews after a guest allegedly made racist comments about him. Some commentators used derogatory terms such as “great apes,” “Homo sapiens,” and “primitive tribe” when discussing his election.

Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into “public insults of a racist nature” regarding the CNews broadcast, as well as a separate investigation into abuse directed at the mayor on the X platform.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2026

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