French riot police have violently clashed with student protesters in central Paris, with footage showing an officer being kicked as glass shatters and objects are hurled through the air.

Police are seen blowing whistles and advancing towards demonstrators before forming a line with their shields held out as hundreds surge towards them.

Amid the unrest, far-Left mayor Bally Bagayoko has been pictured posing for selfies with supporters, while other footage shows him being carried on the shoulders of young demonstrators.

The Muslim mayor of Saint-Denis has emerged as a prominent supporter of the student protest movement, whose participants have been blocking access to high schools for more than two weeks.

Footage of the clashes shows police wielding batons as protesters press against their shields.

One man launches himself towards an officer in an apparent flying kick, while objects rain down around them.

Water cannons then spray the crowd as the confrontation continues.

France has suffered days of disorder and violence sparked by failing school conditions, with high school students joined by far-Left activists and Antifa-linked extremists in clashes with riot police across the country.

Riot cops have been involved in ongoing battles with balaclava-clad demonstrators who have set fire to schools and attacked teachers.

Bagayoko was filmed at a demonstration in Paris on Tuesday standing between officers and student protesters, spreading his arms and shouting ‘Stop’.

Further footage showed him having saline solution applied to his eyes after he was exposed to tear gas.

His support for the demonstrations has drawn scrutiny from the authorities.

The Paris Police Prefect even reported him to the public prosecutor’s office for ‘incitement to commit a crime’, after he was filmed saying that ‘violence, at a given moment, can be legitimate,’ in front of the Paul-Éluard high school in support of the blockade movement, Le Parisien reported.

But despite his detractors, the Muslim mayor has emerged as a hero of the youth protest movement, at a time when Emmanuel Macron’s government – burdened with a spiralling debt crisis – has never been weaker.

Before he was elected with a large majority, Bagayoko served as a local councillor for 19 years and coached basketball.

On Saturdays and Tuesdays, he still teaches children the sport, according to an interview in El País, even as he leads LFI’s biggest town with a population of 150,000.

In his office at Saint-Denis town hall, a well-known official portrait of Macron leans against the wall on the floor, in what Bagayoko calls a protest against the state’s failure to address social inequalities.

His refusal to hang the picture earned him a letter of ire from the prefect of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, who reprimanded him for violating the ‘republican custom’ of displaying the presidential portrait.

He drapes a Palestinian flag behind his chair, according to Le Monde, in a show of support for the cause that is a powerful driving force of LFI founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s election campaigns.

Read More: Moment French riot police violently clash with students in central Paris – as Muslim far-Left mayor at the forefront of protests poses for selfies with fans