Yvan Colonna: a new demonstration with high political risk

Frédéric Michel with AFP 4:53 p.m., April 3, 2022

A new demonstration for Yvan Colonna, an independence activist fatally attacked in prison, began on Sunday afternoon in Ajaccio, with the risk, in the event of violence, of delaying the announced opening of discussions with the State around possible autonomy. for the island.

A demonstration to obtain "justice and truth"

At 3:00 p.m., a procession of at least a thousand people, behind two large banners bearing the now traditional slogan "French state assassin", set off under the sun towards the prefecture.

In the midst of dozens of banderas, the Corsican flag struck with the head of Moor, also emerged a Basque flag and a large Breton flag.

Organized by a large nationalist collective, this demonstration wants to obtain "justice and truth" for Yvan Colonna.

This collective was formed after the fatal attack on March 2 of the nationalist activist, who was serving a life sentence for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac in 1998 in Ajaccio.

Composed of separatist and separatist political parties, nationalist unions and associations for the defense of prisoners, this movement was already at the origin of the major demonstrations of March 6 and 13 in Corte and Bastia, which ended in violence.

7,000 people had gathered in Bastia according to the authorities, 15,000 according to the organizers.

Faced with new risks of overflows, an imposing security device was put in place on Sunday in Ajaccio, in particular in front of the prefecture or the courthouse.

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For this Sunday demonstration, the collective specified acting "following the call of the Colonna family".

"Faced with this murderous France and in memory of the patriot that was Yvan, we will all be together on Sunday for the demonstration in Ajaccio", wrote Stéphane Colonna, Yvan's brother, on Tuesday on Twitter, in the Corsican language.

On Sunday he was actually at the head of the procession.

If Gilles Simeoni, autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica, was noticed by his absence Wednesday evening at the meeting of the collective, his party Femu a Corsica nevertheless called for demonstrations.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had undertaken, during his visit to Corsica from March 16 to 18, to open "from the first week of April" a process of negotiations on "all the Corsican issues", including "the institutional evolution towards a status of autonomy still to be specified".

If Mr. Simeoni brought forward the day of April 8 for the opening of these discussions, this date has not been confirmed by Beauvau.

In a document they had co-signed on March 18, MM.

Darmanin and Simeoni had agreed "that the implementation of this historic process" could only "be envisaged in a peaceful and calm general framework".