Municipal police should be disarmed in the multicultural Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, the city’s recently elected radical Mayor Bally Bagayoko said this week, despite the history of violence and unrest in the area.
The Malian-heritage mayor, who swept to power on the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon La France Insoumise (LFI/France in Rebellion) ticket — with the backing of the French Communist Party — earlier this month, defeating comparatively moderate Socialist Party candidate Mathieu Hanotin during the first round of voting in France’s two-round municipal elections.
True to form, Bagayoko, who campaigned on giving free (taxpayer-funded) bicycles to every ninth-grade student in the city, free “back-to-school” kits to all children, among other handouts, came out swinging for the far-left fences in his first week as mayor, vowing to take away weapons from municipal police in Saint-Denis.
The Rebellious mayor said per Le Figaro: “I recently met with all the municipal police officers to express my gratitude. We are going to begin a disarmament process.”
The politician said he was specifically focused on removing the LBD [less-lethal defence] weapons, such as tasers, from the municipal police, and that “for the time being” the force will be able to keep its firearms.
The move by Bagayoko to take away weapons has sparked pushback from the Professional Union of Municipal Police Officers, who urged their members to seek transfers from municipalities seeking to disarm them. The Municipal Police Defence Union (SDPM) was even more blunt, imploring officers to “flee LFI-controlled municipalities.”
Mocking the chaos sparked by the France Insoumise mayor’s announcement, recently elected Mayor of Nice, Eric Ciotti, quipped: “The Nice municipal police need reinforcements. We will be proud to welcome the Saint-Denis officers threatened by the irresponsible disarmament decision made by the LFI-run town hall.”
Hellbound and Down 