Meet the mayor of Saint-Denis, France: our socialists haven't gone that far yet

Bally Bagayoko, mayor of Saint-Denis, denies appearing in the video that is circulating: he says he approached a container that was already on fire to move it away from the Paul-Éluard school and facilitate the arrival of firefighters. Maldita.es asked local firefighters who caused the fire and received no answer at the time of publication.

The mayor of Saint-Denis, in France, **Bally Bagayoko**, denies appearing in the video attributed to him during a demonstration in front of the **Paul-Éluard** school. The recording is dated **September 29, 2026**, in Saint-Denis, and has circulated alongside messages that place him provoking riots and setting a container on fire.

## What the full sequence shows
The full sequence that has been shared shows **Bagayoko** approaching the container already in flames and moving it away from the school entrance. Then the firefighters arrive and he stands next to them while they put out the fire.

On his Twitter account, now X, the mayor denied appearing in the video that has been shared, as some circulating messages claim. He also publicly declared his support for the student protests that have taken place throughout **France**.

## What he says about the fire
**Bagayoko** maintained that he himself tried to put out the fire "to guarantee the safety of the young people present and allow a rapid intervention by the firefighters." That phrase appears in his account.

**Maldita.es** contacted the local firefighters to ask if they know who caused the fire. At the time of publishing their article, they had no answer. Who lit the container remains unconfirmed.