Denis Municipality remarks
In the high school protests that began on September 17 in France with demands for improved education conditions, Seine-Saint-Denis Mayor Bally Bagayoko came to the fore. The 53-year-old politician from the radical left LFI stood with his arms outstretched in front of police officers who wanted to intervene against the students, and footage of him shouting “Stop! Move back!” spread on social media.
LFI calendar
Bagayoko’s remarks during the protest at Lycée Paul-Eluard that violence could be legitimate in certain circumstances also sparked controversy. According to the Wall Street Journal, he called for an investigation into the Paris police; the Lecornu government accuses Bagayoko and LFI of inciting young people to violence. LFI founder and 2027 presidential candidate Mélenchon, for his part, said he supports nonviolent struggle and argued that the real problem is police violence.
Interior Ministry statements
According to the Interior Ministry, about 71 thousand 500 people took to the streets on Thursday; the total number of detentions is at least 7 thousand. After a 15-year-old student lost his hand to a stun grenade on October 5, Minister Laurent Nuñez banned the grenade. Bagayoko asked Macron to apologize to the families of the injured students; Ségolène Royal also criticized police violence, saying, “When empathy disappears, barbarism follows.”