Several hundred people gathered in front of the prefectures of Ajaccio and Bastia on Saturday under the slogan "
respect for Corsica and its people
", demanding more autonomy for the Mediterranean island, according to a correspondent of the AFP and local media.
Read also Corsica Ferries: standoff between Corsica and the State
Organized at the call of the autonomist party Femu a Corsica, which is at the head of the Collectivity of Corsica, these gatherings were held in the presence of the deputies of Haute-Corse, Jean-Félix Acquaviva and Michel Castellani, of the senator of Haute-Corse. Corsica, Paulu-Santu Parigi, and several members of the Corsican executive council.
After the statements of the Minister of Overseas, Sébastien Lecornu on the debate on autonomy posed in Guadeloupe, the Corsican autonomist party asked the French state "
to initiate a process of negotiated settlement of the Corsican problem
".
In this straight line, the demonstrators in particular demanded once again the bringing together towards the island of the Corsican prisoners condemned for the assassination, in 1998, of the prefect Claude Erignac.
They also asked the State to pay the fine of nearly 90 million euros that the Corsica Collectivity must pay to the Corsica Ferries shipping company after being sentenced for causing it damage by paying illegal subsidies to the competing shipping company.
Femu a Corsica hopes to trigger a cycle of mobilizations in order to "
influence the State in its way of treating Corsica
".
Part of the nationalist movement like Corsica Libera, party of the former independentist president of the Corsican Assembly, Jean-Guy Talamoni, however refused to join this mobilization, deeming more consultation on the methods necessary. and the means employed.
On September 3, the underground independence movement Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) threatened a return to armed struggle on the island if the French state continued "
its policy of contempt
".
The FLNC had claimed responsibility for several attacks on the island in the past, but its FLNC-UC branch had laid down its arms in 2014 and the FLNC of October 22 had announced demilitarization in 2016.
