It is a strong comeback of the “Corsican question” which the French government would have done without a month before the presidential election and in the middle of the war in Ukraine.
Over the past two weeks, the slogan “Murderer State” has again resounded in the streets of Corte, Ajaccio and Bastia during demonstrations that turned into a riot, opposing the police and groups of young people ready to fight. .
The spark came from the violent attack, reclassified as “attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise”, of which Yvan Colonna was the victim, on March 2, in the prison of Arles, where the independence activist is serving a life sentence for his participation in the assassination of the prefect Claude Érignac in 1998, an event still considered today as a trauma for the country.
Since this attack perpetrated against the activist by a particularly dangerous Islamist detainee, Yvan Colonna's supporters have denounced negligence in his surveillance.
"How can we justify, even though the aggression attests to an unprecedented relentlessness for eight minutes and that it is entirely filmed, that there is no reaction on the part of the supervisors responsible for controlling the screens at their disposal precisely to avoid this type of violence between detainees?”, questions the lawyer of Yvan Colonna, master Patrick Spinosi, in an interview granted to Corse-Matin.
Beyond the question of the responsibility of the prison administration, these events bring to the fore the thorny question of bringing together Corsican detainees.
For ten years, Yvan Colonna's relatives have been asking for his transfer to his native island.
A request officially refused because of his status as a "particularly guarded detainee" (DPS).
A status which currently concerns around 240 people in France, according to the Ministry of Justice, most of them coming from the middle of organized crime and presenting in particular increased risks of escape.
“State political fault”
On March 8, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, ended up lifting the DPS status of Yvan Colonna while the latter was in a coma.
This status was also lifted the same week for Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, the two other members of the Érignac commando.
A decision taken in "a concern for appeasement" and paving the way for a return of the two detainees to the island.
“Corsican detainees must be able to serve their sentence close to their family.
It is a humanitarian matter and in accordance with the law and the procedures.
Even if you are not a nationalist, everyone here considers that what happened to Yvan Colonna is a political fault of the State”, explains to France 24 the mayor of Bisinchi, Pierre Olmeta, who recently launched a petition , signed by more than half of the city councilors of Haute-Corse, to call for calm and demand the return of Corsican prisoners to the island.
If the feeling of injustice concerning the fate of Corsican prisoners partly explains the scale of the mobilization, the importance of the figure of Yvan Colonna also plays a preponderant role.
“Colonna embodies in the collective imagination a sort of Robin Hood, a social bandit, the image of someone who resists the system, especially since he has always proclaimed his innocence.
It has become the unifying myth of all nationalism”, specifies France 24 Thierry Dominici, doctor in political science and lecturer at the University of Bordeaux.
“For the young Corsican generation, Yvan Colonna is even the only image of this nationalism of resistance which promotes actions against the French state.”
“Radicalized” Corsican youth
The spearhead of the protest, the Corsican youth indeed appears on the front line in the demonstrations which shook the island, in particular “student unions affiliated with nationalist movements which claim independence”, assures Pierre Olmeta.
“Behind, there are also elected officials who are adding fuel to the fire,” laments the mayor of Bisinchi.
Among these young people, born after the assassination of the prefect Érignac, many reject the non-violent nationalism anchored in the republican institutions carried by the autonomist Gilles Simeoni, the president of the Executive Council of Corsica since 2014.
Unlike other French regions, political life in Corsica is not dominated by traditional parties such as Les Républicains, La République en Marche or La France insoumise.
Nationalist parties are in charge.
The latter are demanding greater autonomy for the island but reject the violent action, embodied for several decades by the small group of the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC).
“There are two forms of nationalism that clash today.
The majority nationalism in power and a more popular nationalism which believes that elected officials do not go far enough in terms of demands”, analyzes Thierry Dominici.
"Today, some of these young people, inspired by the black blocks and the yellow vests, are in a logic of revolt and they believe that the violence has made it possible to put Corsica back on the political and media agenda", specifies the researcher .
For these independence activists, none of the nationalist demands such as greater autonomy, recognition of the Corsican people or the Corsican language in official documents has been taken into account by the French government.
Added to this conviction of being despised by Paris is a glaring lack of prospects for the younger generation, faced with a high unemployment rate and a skyrocketing cost of living.
“There is no escape”
According to the elected officials in power in Corsica, this lack of consideration by the French government vis-à-vis nationalist aspirations has contributed to this radicalization.
“We have won the elections three times in the Assembly of Corsica and there has not been the shadow of a beginning of a response to the political problems that we pose”, is indignant with France 24 the deputy of Haute-Corse Jean-Felix Acquaviva.
“There is a techno-structure around Emmanuel Macron which pleads for a speech of firmness in the face of pro-democracy nationalists.
As if the government preferred to have in front of it armed illegal immigrants who were carrying out attacks”, affirms the deputy.
An episode of the quinquennium particularly marked the spirits and symbolized the distrust which reigns between Paris and the Corsican elected officials.
In February 2018, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the assassination of the prefect Claude Érignac, Emmanuel Macron went to the island.
The day after the commemorations, he gave a speech in Bastia perceived as very contemptuous by the elected nationalists who, height of humiliation, were searched before his speech.
“It was a particularly traumatic visit,” summarizes Jean-Félix Acquaviva, who explains that he refused to be searched that day by the security services.
That same year, Emmanuel Macron had however launched a constitutional reform which paved the way for an evolution of the status of the island with new powers, including in tax matters, but this reform had been blocked by the Senate.
Aware of the highly flammable nature of the situation in Corsica, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, is expected on Wednesday March 16 on the Isle of Beauty to "open" a "discussion cycle" with "all the elected officials and living forces of the island".
“It comes late but it's never too late to do well.
However, I don't expect anything from this visit because we are 30 days away from the presidential election and nothing can be decided now,” says Pierre Olmeta.
For his part, Jean-Félix Acquaviva assures that "there is no longer any escape" and that the minister must imperatively come with a speech and proposals in favor of greater autonomy for the island. can't be a missed date," the MP warns. "Otherwise the cure could be worse than the disease.”
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app
google-play-badge_EN