Bally Bagayoko, the new mayor (La France Insoumise, LFI) of Saint-Denis, in La Courneuve, France on March 28, 2026. CAMILLE MILLERAND/DIVERGENCE FOR LE MONDE
Some commentators, on CNews, chose to use terms such as "great apes," "Homo sapiens," "dominant male," or even "primitive tribe" when discussing the election of Bally Bagayoko, of the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI), as mayor of the northern Paris suburb Saint-Denis. Others saw his victory as proof that "the glass ceiling is finally starting to break" (Mohamed Mechmache, grassroots activist from working-class neighborhoods and founder of the group Not Without Us), "an example for younger generations" (Youcef Brakni, of the Adama Committee, a group against police violence), and the symbol of "a Republic that is thriving" (Saïd Hammouche, president and founder of Mozaïk RH, a recruitment agency specializing in diversity).
At 52, the new mayor of the second most populous municipality in the Paris region, with 150,000 residents, finds himself at the crossroads of all hatreds and all fears, on one side – but also, on the other, at the intersection of all hopes and all possibilities. Long fragmented and divided, the French antiracism movement has chosen to unite again on Saturday, April 4, responding to Bagayoko's call for a "large, popular, civic rally" on the forecourt of Saint-Denis City Hall against "racism, discrimination, and hatred of others, against Islamophobia, antisemitism, against the far right and xenophobia." Those involved in the fight against racism described his appeal as "exemplary," "universalist" and "ecumenical."
