France, April 4 -- Bally Bagayoko, of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, has been subjected to racist comments both on and off screen since he was elected mayor of the multi-cultural Paris suburb of Saint-Denis two weeks ago.

The town hall's switchboard operators say they are receiving five or six calls a day with racist questions such as "is this the town hall for Arabs and blacks?", according to the head of the department Kelly Kidou.

"They're not necessarily anonymous calls - people feel sufficiently emboldened that they don't even bother to hide their numbers," she told Franceinfo public radio.

Racist insults targeting public officials, including town hall staff, are punishable under French law by up to five years in pri...