Sunday, a demonstration in Bastia (Haute-Corse) in support of Yvan Colonna, violently attacked in prison, gathered 7,000 people according to the authorities, and 12,000 according to the organizers.
The demonstration turned into a “riot”, according to the Bastia prosecutor, who specified that very violent clashes had broken out between demonstrators and the police, causing 67 injuries.
Faced with unabated tensions, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced that he would go to Corsica on Wednesday and Thursday to "open" a "discussion cycle" with "all elected officials and living forces”.
Two weeks after the violent attack on independence activist Yvan Colonna by a fellow prisoner, the anger is not weakening in Corsica.
On Sunday, thousands of people gathered in Bastia for a demonstration which turned into a "riot", according to the prosecutor.
A situation which forced the government to react, by announcing the arrival of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on the island of Beauty on Wednesday and Thursday.
The government, through the voice of the Beauvau tenant, wants to take advantage of these two days in Corsica to "open" a "discussion cycle" with "all elected officials and active forces" and try to ease tensions.
But has the government really "heard the demands of Corsica's elected officials on the institutional, economic, social or cultural future" of the island, as the minister declared in a press release?
A strong gesture on the issue of prisoners?
While the independence activist, whose state of health is "extremely serious", is in a coma, nationalist leaders are still hoping to obtain the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to shed light on the conditions of the attack. by Ivan Colonna.
The attempted murder, which would have lasted “11 to 12 minutes in a central prison, that of Arles, which is, for those who know it, very secure, (…) raises many questions”, declared Jean-Félix Acquaviva , MP for Haute-Corse (Liberties and Territories group) and elected to the Assembly of Corsica in front of the press on Monday.
But beyond the aggression, it is the question of the Corsican prisoners on which the elected officials are asking for progress.
If the government finally agreed to lift the status of DPS, "particularly reported detainee", of Yvan Colonna, then those of Pierre Alessandri and Alain Ferrandi, the two other members of the "Erignac commando", a few days later, as claimed by the demonstrators, the gesture was not enough to calm the anger of the Corsicans.
Through the voice of their local elected officials, they are now demanding the transfer of the two men, in the name of family reunification, to Borgo prison, on the island, as well as their release.
“We must stop state revenge and apply the law normally.
There is a stubborn refusal from the government, we are in a logic of exception, ”explains Jean-Félix Acquaviva to
20 Minutes
, emphasizing "the double penalty for families".
"We want to move towards the release of Pierre Alessandri and Alain Ferrandi, but also of all Corsican political prisoners", calls for his part Jean-Christophe Angelini, mayor of Porto-Vecchio and president of the Avanzemu group at the Assembly of Corsica.
"There is undoubtedly a desire for justice and truth, and, more generally, for political development for our prisoners and for the whole island", adds the elected official.
Towards the recognition of the Corsican people?
Among the strong gestures demanded by elected officials, and by a large part of the population, is the “recognition of the Corsican people”, specifies Jean-Christophe Angelini.
“It is not autonomy, it is not independence that we are asking for, but rather the recognition of the Corsican people on the historical, cultural and political level.
A people who aspire to have rights in terms of language, inheritance, real estate, economy”, continues the mayor of Porto-Vecchio.
A request shared, according to him, by “the vast majority of Corsicans and even by many French people”.
“All the lights are green, the time has come for us to achieve this very widely shared objective,” he adds.
According to an Ifop poll released by the daily Corse-Matin on Sunday, 53% of French people are in favor of Corsica's autonomy, and 35% of its independence.
To access the recognition of the Corsican people, it is still necessary that the Corsican elected officials are taken into consideration, regret the latter.
“We are all waiting in Corsica for the arrival of Gérald Darmanin to be an important trigger, a moment of changeover to another state policy.
This is what the Corsicans have expressed for years, through clear and repeated democratic votes”, continues Jean-Félix Acquaviva, who speaks of “denial of democracy”.
“We are in accordance with the law, with democracy, with universal suffrage.
The planets are aligned for a political settlement of the Corsican question,” adds Jean-Christophe Angelini, who recalls that the nationalists won the territorial elections with 70% of the vote.
The fear of "yet another missed meeting"
But Gérald Darmanin warned, "no dialogue can begin" without a prior "return to calm".
"The scenes of the night were extremely violent" according to Arnaud Viornery, the Bastia prosecutor.
A person arrested is still in police custody, added the magistrate, who had denounced these "riots" on Sunday.
A warning that did not please Jean-Christophe Angelini: “No serious dialogue is nourished by prerequisites.
The problem is not to call for calm, but to create the conditions for it to return.
And it is up to the state to create these conditions.
We have to sit around the table, democratically and calmly”.
“We know that everything will not be obtained tomorrow, but there may be gestures or a timetable.
These are things that will help restore calm, ”adds the president of the Avanzemu group.
Our file on Yvan Colonna
What the elected officials fear is “yet another missed meeting”.
"There would be nothing worse than that, than a visit that has no breath, no content, not the right words or not the right methods", warns Jean-Félix Acquaviva, who asks the Minister to make "commitments worthy of a word of State".
For the two men, without strong proposals, the situation is likely to worsen a little more.
“It will be decisive.
If the government is not up to it, with a speech that engages the continuity of the State, the conflagration will be in front of us and not behind, ”warns the deputy.
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