Sawt Falasteen - French mayor denounces 'increasingly racist society'

"We are living in an increasingly racist society," Bagayoko told AFP in an interview in his home city of Saint-Denis. "I mean a form of racism that is more overt and almost completely unchecked."

The 52-year-old hard-left politician was elected in the first round of municipal elections on March 15, his supporters hoisting him above their shoulders to celebrate their victory.

But almost immediately, the Frenchman born to Malian parents and brought up in the neighbourhood was targeted by racist disinformation or remarks, some aired on television.

"Whereas a few years ago some supporters of racist movements might still hide, today that's no longer the case," he said during Wednesday's interview.

"They're out in the open and they stand by their racist positions, including on television talk shows."

Bagayoko has filed a legal complaint against the CNews television channel, often described as France's Fox News, after a guest on one of its talk shows used racist imagery to comment on his election.

"The justice system needs to be much more forthright and come down hard on these acts, which are, of course, repeated offences," said the mayor from the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI).

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu this week called out what he described as the "normalisation of evil and racism" following the comments against the new Saint-Denis mayor.

LFI on Thursday urged further action, reporting that several of its black lawmakers, including a deputy parliament speaker, had received a racist letter.

Bagayoko called for the closure of CNews, arguing that the French media regulator "must be much stricter".

"Do we have to have a media landscape with racist channels like CNews and others? I say we don't," he said.

- More 'community policing' -

Bagayoko, a retired semi-professional basketball player, has worked for the Paris region transport authority and has been in local politics since 2001, including as deputy mayor.

He has said he grew up in a large, happy family in social housing, but also experienced discrimination and sometimes poor policing during his younger years.

Now he is in charge, he says he wants to improve life for the working-class suburb's some 150,000 inhabitants, many of whom hail from waves of immigration to France, including from former colonies.

Over a third of the population in Saint-Denis live in poverty -- more than twice the national average, according to national statistics.

"The kind of policing I want is community policing, a police force that of course is capable of intervening when needed," he said, adding there would be "no cuts or reductions in frontline numbers, nor indeed any removal of cameras".

"We have 135 municipal officers, they're staying," he added, referring to the law enforcement officers under the city hall's authority.

Asked whether he wanted to disarm the municipal police, he said that he just wanted to prevent them from using any more rubber ball grenades -- sometimes used in France against protesters, and which can cause severe injuries.

He has previously said it was up to national police -- under the interior ministry -- to fight any crime linked to drug dealing in the city.

Bagayoko has replaced Mathieu Hanotin, a Socialist, who served as mayor from 2020.

R.Shaban--SF-PST