Who Is Bally Bagayoko? French Mayor Tear-Gassed While Shielding Student Protesters: 'My Responsibility Is To Be at Their Side'

Saint-Denis mayor Bally Bagayoko was tear-gassed after stepping between riot police and student protesters during a march in Paris, with footage showing the mayor confronting officers and calling for them to stop.

The incident on Tuesday, 6 October, put the 53-year-old politician in the spotlight as France's student protests intensified over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and deteriorating school buildings. Bagayoko later explained that he felt compelled to intervene because the students could have been his own children.

Mayor Tear-Gassed During Student Protest

Video shared online showed Bagayoko standing between police and young protesters as officers moved towards the crowd. He said police had decided to charge the students, many of whom had shown no aggressive behaviour. 'They had decided to charge and effectively go after the students, many of whom had shown no aggressive behaviour whatsoever toward the police officers,' Bagayoko said.

Police subsequently fired tear gas at the group, including the mayor. In an interview with The Guardian, Bagayoko said he was hit by a tear-gas canister and had to leave the line as his eyes began streaming. 'My first instinct is to do everything I can to make it stop,' he said. 'Unfortunately, I would rather it happen to me than to children.'

Bagayoko said he had been travelling with a group of high-school students from Place de la République towards Place de la Nation when they encountered a large line of national police officers who suddenly began charging.

Who Is Bally Bagayoko

Bagayoko is the mayor of Saint-Denis, a northern Paris suburb where poverty levels are more than double the national average. He is a member of La France Insoumise (LFI), the hard-left party founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

He was elected mayor in March 2026 after nearly two decades in local politics. Before becoming mayor, he served as a Saint-Denis councillor and later as a departmental politician. He also worked as an executive at Paris transport operator RATP.

Born in Levallois-Perret in 1973 to parents of Malian origin, Bagayoko grew up in Saint-Denis.

Bagayoko on Joining the Student Protests

The protests began in disadvantaged areas around Paris before spreading across France, with students raising concerns about overcrowded and unsanitary classrooms, teacher shortages and unequal educational opportunities.

Bagayoko has argued that working-class areas receive fewer resources than wealthier parts of Paris. 'The Republican promise (of equality) ... in particular for the working-class neighbourhoods, and also rural areas, is not respected,' he said. 'What is being built right now is good democracy as soon as young people take over issues that concern them,' he said.

He acknowledged that a small minority of people may use demonstrations to cause trouble, but said this did not justify what he described as disproportionate use of force by authorities.

Why Bagayoko Stood With Protesters

Bagayoko has rejected suggestions that LFI politicians were responsible for driving the demonstrations and said his presence was motivated by a desire to protect the students. 'The high-school children who were in the street could be my children ... it is my responsibility to be at their side,' he told Reuters.

The government has accused LFI politicians of being behind the demonstrations, a claim Bagayoko has rejected. The protests have continued amid clashes between demonstrators and police, with arrests and injuries reported among protesters and officers since the movement began.