Widespread circulation of a video of a French mayor defending students during protests

Listen to the article, the audio text is automatically generated by a machine system.

A video has widely circulated on social media showing Bali Bagayoko, the mayor of the town of Saint-Denis in France, standing up to the police during a student protest in Paris on Tuesday, protecting the demonstrators and shouting at the police, "Stop it." Bagayoko explained that he was supporting the students in his neighborhood near Paris, which has a majority working-class population.

Bagayoko, a member of the far-left party (France Insoumise), told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday in his office at the town hall in Saint-Denis, "They decided to advance and pursue the students, even though many of them showed no aggressive behavior towards the police." He added that the police eventually fired tear gas at the group, including the mayor himself. A wave of student protests has been ongoing for more than two weeks, starting in the marginalized suburbs of Paris. The protests have revealed widespread public anger six months before the scheduled elections to choose a successor to French President Emmanuel Macron.

From a lack of teachers and dilapidated schools to concerns about university admissions through "Parcoursup"... 7 reasons behind the anger of students and their protests in France https://t.co/jSy41jhk18

More than six thousand people have been arrested and dozens of students injured since the protests began. Human rights groups and unions have accused the police of using harsh methods against minors, including the use of batons and tear gas. Authorities say that hundreds of police officers have also been injured, and schools have been burned or looted, with teachers and members of the public attacked. Bagayoko emphasized that the government must prioritize investment in education and impose higher taxes on billionaires.

A wave of student protests is expanding in France with the participation of 256,000 demonstrators.. President Macron holds an emergency meeting with the government https://t.co/sZzDILIHHN

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Wednesday that the government will consider the demands raised by the students and will present proposals by the end of October, but he did not provide any details. Bagayoko, a father of four, mentioned, "The high school students who were in the streets could be my children... and it is my responsibility to stand by them."