“Stop, step back, you stop!” : Bally Bagayoko at the heart of tensions between high school students and the police in Paris

He arrived like a hero. Almost an icon. In images captured by TF1-LCI, the rebellious mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, French flag in his hands, joined the procession of the high school demonstration in Paris on Tuesday, surrounded by young people with masked faces, some fully hooded, who advanced with him, holding him by the shoulders. Behind him followed a human tide of protesters, surely galvanized by this figure, at the forefront since the beginning of the discontent.

But the atmosphere quickly became tense around him. Throughout the afternoon, the elected Mélenchoniste regularly posed as a shield for the demonstrators against the police. A video that has gone viral on social networks - 3 million views - shows him, in fact, with his arms outstretched in front of young people as if to protect them, shouting in the direction of the police: “Stop, move back, you stop!”, before being shoved by the officers himself.

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The episode was not isolated: following a new altercation, Bally Bagayoko received tear gas in the face. His companions then poured physiological serum into his eyes to relieve the burn. At the end of the afternoon, the councilor elected in March ended up being exfiltrated from the demonstration. Before returning to take the time to thank one by one the young people who had accompanied him, as shown in a video from Current Values.

Enough to antagonize part of the political class. In view of the striking images showing Bally Bagayoko facing the police, the mayor of Nice and president of the UDR, Éric Ciotti, called on CNews for the “revocation” in the Council of Ministers of his Dionysian counterpart, whom he accuses of “stoking violence while he is a judicial police officer and the representative of the State”. A request all the more urgent, in his eyes, because if LFI came to power, “we would immediately be in a bloodthirsty dictatorship”.

A thousand miles from these criticisms, Bally Bagayoko wanted to improve his image in a video retracing his day: he shows himself to be pacifist and close to young people, who adore him and to whom he gives advice. In the caption, the LFI elected official denounces a “totally disproportionate use of force”, which he says he witnessed, in the face of demonstrators who “simply ask to be heard”. The opportunity to call on the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, so that the instructions are reviewed “before a tragedy occurs”.

To the high school students, finally, he says: “Do not give in to any provocation. Stay united and non-violent!” A call for calm which contrasts with his statements of September 29 when he considered that violence could be “legitimate”, while calling on young people to avoid it. Comments which gave rise to accusations that LFI not only fueled, but encouraged excesses.