The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, will travel to Corsica on Wednesday and Thursday to "open" a "cycle of discussions" with "all the elected officials and the living forces of the island", he announced. , Monday, March 14, in a press release sent to AFP, the day after a new day of demonstrations and new violence.

The government has "heard the requests of the elected representatives of Corsica on the institutional, economic, social or cultural future" of Corsica, adds the minister, in particular "those of the president of the executive council, Gilles Simeoni", who claims among other demands a autonomy status for Corsica.

At the request of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, I will be going to #Corsica on Wednesday and Thursday.

pic.twitter.com/vOnvpVWwr1

– Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) March 14, 2022

This cycle of "unprecedented" discussions will aim to "find the conditions for such an evolution of Corsica in the Republic, as provided for in the Constitution", continues Gérald Darmanin, without detailing.

Condemning "firmly" the violence of recent days, the minister calls for a "return to calm without delay", "calm without which no dialogue can begin".

On Sunday, the demonstration in Bastia in support of Yvan Colonna turned into a "riot", according to the Bastia prosecutor, with 67 injured including 44 members of the police.

"Finding Peace"

Since the attack on March 2 in prison of this independence activist convicted for his participation in the assassination of the prefect Érignac in 1998, several rallies and violence have taken place on the island, against a background of questions about the conditions of this attack. .

>> To read: Yvan Colonna in a coma after an attack in prison by a jihadist detainee

On Friday, Prime Minister Jean Castex tried to calm the situation by announcing the lifting of the status of "particularly reported detainee" (DPS) of Pierre Alessandri and Alain Ferrandi, two other members of the "Érignac commando" still detained on the continent.

This status prevented their rapprochement to a Corsican prison.

During his trip, Gérald Darmanin will go to "meet the police" mobilized on the spot.

The Minister of the Interior "knows that the Corsicans, for whom he has the greatest respect, aspire to find peace and assures them of his full listening in these difficult times", he writes again.

With AFP

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