The newly elected mayor of Saint-Denis, one of Paris’s most densely populated and culturally diverse suburbs, has placed a Palestinian flag in the municipal council chamber — a provocative political statement from a man who won office just weeks ago with a fraction of the area’s total population backing him.
Bally Bagayoko was officially installed as mayor of Saint-Denis on 21 March 2026, having won the election in the first round with 50.77% of the vote — 13,506 ballots — defeating incumbent mayor Mathieu Hanotin. However, the turnout stood at just 42.84%, corresponding to a 57.16% abstention rate, meaning Bagayoko’s mandate came from a relatively small slice of a commune whose population stands at approximately 142,000 people.
Bagayoko is a member of La France Insoumise, the hard-left party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. His decision to display the Palestinian flag inside the council chamber marks an escalation of what has already been a politically charged issue in Saint-Denis. The suburb was among at least 86 town and city halls run by leftist parties that flew Palestinian flags on their facades in September 2025, when France recognised Palestinian statehood — a move that was carried out in defiance of a direct government warning.
France’s Interior Ministry had stated clearly that “the principle of neutrality in public service prohibits such displays,” and warned that any decisions by mayors to fly the Palestinian flag should be referred to courts. Some municipalities that ignored the ban faced legal consequences — the Communist-run suburb of Malakoff was ordered by a court to pay a €150 fine for each day it displayed the flag.
Moving the flag from the exterior of a building into the council chamber itself represents a further step, bringing an overtly political foreign policy symbol into the formal space of local democratic governance. Critics are likely to argue it undermines the neutrality obligations placed on public institutions, while Bagayoko’s supporters will frame it as a principled humanitarian stance consistent with his party’s long-held position on the conflict in Gaza.
Saint-Denis, which merged with Pierrefitte-sur-Seine in early 2025, is the most populous commune in Île-de-France after Paris, and Bagayoko’s victory marked the first time La France Insoumise had won a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants. His tenure has begun with the flag controversy setting the tone for what is likely to be a confrontational relationship with the French government.
