A French mayor who faced a barrage of racist insults that are being investigated by police has called for France to urgently tackle race hatred and stem the rise of far-right ideas ahead of next year’s presidential election.
“It has become a lot easier for racist views to be expressed … and unfortunately racist comments are becoming trivialised,” said Bally Bagayoko, 52, in his office at Saint-Denis town hall outside Paris, where he was recently elected mayor for the radical left.
