Bally Bagayoko, the first mayor from the hard-left France Unbowed party to win a major French city, has filed a lawsuit against television channel CNews for airing racist comments about him.
Bagayoko drew criticism immediately after he was elected mayor of Saint-Denis on 15 March, following his comments about the allegiances of municipal workers and his plans to disarm the local police.
As the first France Unbowed (LFI) mayor of a city of more than 100,000 residents, his party’s far-left stance has also become a focal point for attacks from the far right.
Much of the criticism directed at Bagayoko – whose parents are from Mali – has been overtly racist.
On the night of his victory, far-right social media accounts referred to his description of the city as “la ville des rois” ("the city of kings") by calling it “la ville des noirs” ("the city of blacks").
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Remarks on CNews
During a debate on TV channel CNews on 27 March about Bagayoko’s first days in office, psychologist Jean Doridot was asked whether the mayor was “trying to push the limits”.
As images of Bagayoko were seen on screen, Doridot replied that humans “are social animals and part of the ape family" and need a "chief whose mission is to establish his authority".
Mathilde Panot, leader of the LFI group in the National Assembly, called the remarks “crass" and an example of “unapologetic racism”, in comparing Bagayoko to "a monkey and a tribal chief".
Bagayoko has announced he is suing the channel, which is owned by conservative billionaire media mogul Vincent Bolloré. CNews has been repeatedly criticised for airing racist and Islamophobic content, and has been fined several times by the Arcom media regulator.
CNews responded that the remarks had been “taken out of context” and “deliberately distorted” to fuel controversy.
In addition, French NGO the Movement Against Racism and For Friendship Between Peoples (MRAP) said it had filed a complaint with the public prosecutor, as well as signing an open letter against CNews.
Its co-president, lawyer Kaltoum Gachi, told RFI: "To us, it crosses a red line – that someone can be referred to as a monkey because of their skin colour."
Dominique Sopo, president of the international NGO SOS Racisme, told RFI the organisation had filed a complaint with Arcom over the CNews broadcast.
"We are seeing increasingly open expressions of racism. This comparison to a monkey, this talk of ‘dominant males’ and ‘primitive tribes’ – it all ultimately reduces people... to old racist stereotypes."
Government response
In another incident on CNews on 28 March, essayist Michel Onfray accused Bagayoko of adopting the attitude of a "dominant male” by calling for "allegiance" after his election. "That's very tribal," he said, drawing criticism from LFI as well as the Socialist Party.
Meanwhile, Tugdual Denis, editor of the far-right magazine Valeurs Actuelles, claimed in a television interview on channel BFMTV on 17 March that Bagayoko was supported by drug dealers, repeating rumours that had circulated during the election campaign.
“Whose pocket are you in?” Bagayoko responded. “There’s an organised cabal [that] fits with who I am: Bally Bagayoko, a child of immigration. So of course they say I must be linked to drug traffickers.”
Bagayoko has publicly called out the government’s failure to condemn the racist comments about him made on CNews.
While President Emmanuel Macron told a ministerial council that there can be "no sedition in the communes of the Republic", referring to attacks on incoming mayors by leftists, until this week there had been no condemnation of the attacks against Bagayoko.
On Monday, Culture Minister Catherine Pégard, in an interview on France Inter, criticised the “vile, unacceptable” attacks on the new mayor, while Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, speaking on radio network RTL on the same day, called the attacks “despicable” and said he was “deeply shocked by the remarks”.
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Disarming the police
Bagayoko has also faced backlash for his campaign promise to gradually disarm Saint-Denis' 160-member municipal police force – a move welcomed by those who see police overreach as an issue.
He said the city would begin a gradual "process of disarming" the police, starting with LBD rubber bullet launchers, whose ammunition stocks he said would not be renewed.
"We will review the entirety of the weapons of the local police. This will be done in consultation with police leadership, staff and city residents, so that we can have a local police that is able to act," he told France Télévisions.
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The announcement drew the ire of the far right, particularly after reports of police officers putting in transfer requests.
In a social media post, Eric Ciotti, the newly elected far-right mayor of Nice, offered to take in any officers who felt “threatened" by Bagayoko's decision.
The president of the far-right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, said that towns run by his party would be “sanctuaries for any local police officer who wishes to work on security and be supported and respected”.
Bagayoko has denied reports of a “wave” of transfer requests, calling them exaggerated.
'Purging' city hall
Bagayoko has also come under fire from the national government after comments he made about municipal workers and their political allegiances.
In an interview with CNews last week, he said those who "are not aligned with the political project will, of course, leave", clarifying that he would not dismiss them – but rather that they would leave on their own, through natural staff turnover.
“This is not something new,” he said.
Critics accused Bagayoko of seeking to purge city hall of those who did not support his agenda, and he received a letter from the Minister for Public Action and Accounts, David Amiel, who warned him against sidelining employees for political reasons.
Any decision "to sideline a public worker for political reasons would be tarnished by illegality” and could be suspended by an administrative judge, he said, adding that any such move could amount to "moral harassment” or even a criminal offence.
Bagayoko has announced he will hold a rally on Saturday against “racism and discrimination”.
