The underground independence group Front de Liberation Nationale Corse (FLNC) threatened a return to armed struggle on the island if the French state continues "
its policy of contempt
", in a statement sent to
Corse-Matin.
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The undated statement was accompanied by a video in which about fifty men, hooded, dressed in black and heavily armed surround an activist who reads, in the night, this text signed by the FLNC Union of Combatants (FLNC-UC) and the FLNC of October 22.
The FLNC was demilitarized in 2016
These two movements, which had claimed responsibility for several attacks on the island in the past, had been very discreet for years.
The FLNC-UC laid down their arms in 2014. And the FLNC of October 22 announced a demilitarization in 2016.
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"
To the French state, we say clearly that if its policy of contempt continues, we will definitively resume, with probably even more determination than in the past, the paths of the fighting night that we know so well
", reads the activist armed.
"
The FLNC is not intended to give up the fight even though none of the objectives for which it was created have been achieved,
" said a passage highlighted in bold in the text of the five-page press release.
A call and warnings
What follows comes as a call for the mobilization of troops: "
To those, veterans of the struggle, who practice easy criticism of going underground, we tell them that they are welcome to resume the fight.
In their place.
As before
”.
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The call is also aimed at young people and warns different people, from real estate developers to elected officials.
The tone is very harsh towards “
newcomers
”: “
We say that this land is not yours.
And more particularly to the French who think they are at home in Corsica
”.
The two clandestine structures are particularly critical of the result of the last regional elections which saw the victory of the list led by the autonomist Gilles Simeoni accused of having chosen a "
hegemony (...) which suggests a governance without sharing
”.
For the first time since 2015 and their accession to the head of the region, the nationalists presented themselves disunited, divided into four lists, during the territorial elections.