A demonstration, organized six months after the death in prison of Corsican nationalist activist Yvan Colonna, brought together about 150 people in Bastia on Wednesday and was marked by clashes between police and a few dozen demonstrators.
This small gathering, on the initiative of the youth movement of the Corsica Libera independence party, aimed to ask for the recognition of the Corsican people, the release of political prisoners and to ask for “justice for Yvan Colonna”.
Molotov cocktails
After a quiet start to the demonstration, tension has increased between about thirty demonstrators and the CRS, with Molotov cocktails fired at the police who responded with tear gas.
A French flag was burned and a banner “French statu assassinu” (“Etat français assassin” in progress, ed) was also deployed on the gates of the prefecture.
A few hours earlier, police had intercepted five to six bags containing painter’s clothes and hammers, carried by a group of escaped youths.
Discussions on the future of the Corsican community
Yvan Colonna’s death sparked several weeks of often violent protests in Corsica last winter. Many courses believe that the activist would not have been assaulted to death in his Arles prison, where he was serving a life sentence for the murder of prefect Erignac, had he been transferred to an island prison, as he had asked. for a long time.
Since then, the government has initiated discussions with elected Corsican officials about the future of the Corsican community.
This summer, Gérald Darmanin had argued that there would be “no taboo” during these consultations, in particular on an evolution towards autonomy, while setting two red lines: a Corsica that remains “in the Republic” and does not create ” two types of citizens “on the island.
The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, is expected in Ajaccio and then in Bastia this Thursday and Friday.
–
