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Corsica: after a night of "riots", the demonstrations continue on the island

2022-03-10T20:52:47.099Z


Eight days after Yvan Colonna's attack in prison, the demonstrations intensified on the night of Wednesday March 9, with in particular intrusions and fires within the Ajaccio courthouse.


Demonstrations in support of Yvan Colonna and against the “

murderous French state

” continued on Thursday March 10 in Corsica, the day after a night

of “riots

” which saw the Ajaccio courthouse targeted, eight days after the attack in prison of the independence activist.

Read alsoCorsica still under tension after the Colonna attack

Thursday morning, about 400 high school students had gathered behind a banner "

Per Yvan, Statu francesu assassinu

" (For Yvan, French state assassin: Editor's note) some, masked faces and armed with tennis rackets, ready to do battle with the forces of order.

But a dozen adults intervened, managing to prevent the clashes, noted an AFP journalist.

If this demonstration in Ajaccio finally ended in calm, incidents broke out at the end of the day in Bastia with a few people throwing projectiles at the police, who responded with tear gas, according to a correspondent from AFP on the spot.

A tense evening

According to the Haute-Corse prefecture, joined by AFP, the situation remained "

stationary in the bad sense of the term

" around 8:30 p.m., "

with around thirty people who continued to attack the police in a very mobile

” with molotov cocktails, loose cobblestones or even agricultural bombs.

The situation was similar to Corte, according to the authorities, with about fifteen people throwing projectiles in the direction of the police guarding the sub-prefecture.

The demonstrations must keep a peaceful turn

”, estimated Thursday evening on Francetv Info Gilles Simeoni, the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica: “

But the best way to defuse this violence is to create political conditions that will allow anger and indignation to subside

”.

Read alsoYvan Colonna: why the state is reluctant to allow the return of members of the Erignac commando to their island

Since Yvan Colonna, sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of the prefect of Corsica Claude Erignac in 1998, has been in a coma, after being attacked on March 2 in his prison in Arles by a fellow prisoner imprisoned for terrorism, the demonstrations have multiplied on the island at the call of students, high school students, nationalist organizations or trade unions.

During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the anger had risen a notch, with violent clashes between certain demonstrators and the police in Ajaccio, Calvi (Haute-Corse) or even Bastia.

At least 14 people were injured in Ajaccio, 23 CRS and three civilians in Bastia, according to the prefectures.

'Deep concern'

"

We suffered two attacks yesterday against the court

", including one "

where a priori about fifteen individuals entered the building and set fire to the ground floor, the hall of lost steps, degraded furniture, l 'computing and windows

,' described Nicolas Septe, public prosecutor of Ajaccio, to AFP, speaking

of 'riots

'.

For several observers, including political scientist Thierry Dominici, the tougher independence movements are now in charge of these demonstrations.

Still on Francetv Info, Gilles Simeoni indicated that he had spoken “

at length

” to Prime Minister Jean Castex by telephone.

He told me that he would answer me very quickly, in the hours or days to come.

“, in particular about the lifting of the status of DPS (Editor’s note: particularly reported detainee) for Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, also members of the “

Erignac commando

”.

Read alsoColonna aggression: obvious malfunctions at the central house in Arles

Yvan Colonna had long been asking for his rapprochement with Corsica.

But this had been systematically refused to him because of his DPS status.

Prime Minister Jean Castex had finally lifted the DPS status of Yvan Colonna on Tuesday, a decision considered by many to be a provocation, the former shepherd now being between life and death in a hospital in Marseille.

To respond to the “

anger

” in Corsica, Gilles Simeoni also called on the state to “

open a new political cycle and to say clearly that there is a Corsican question

”.

In a column published by Le Monde on Thursday evening, the autonomist president of the Assembly of Corsica, Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, addressed President Emmanuel Macron, believing that "

Corsica is reliving dark times

".

No one, or almost, believes, in Corsica but also elsewhere in France, in a simple aggression in French prisons of a prisoner by a fellow prisoner

”, she assured.

As for Pierre Alessandri and Alain Ferrandi, “

they too are in danger

”, she estimated.

In a press release on Thursday, the University of Corsica expressed "

its deep concern at the escalation of dramatic events in which Corsica, and especially its youth, is plunged

", while calling for a "

massive mobilization

" to the demonstration scheduled for Sunday in Bastia.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-03-10

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