“French murderer!” »shouts a man at the head of the procession, immediately taken up by the crowd: behind this watchword, “murderous French state”thousands of people marched on the streets of Corte (Haute-Corse) on Sunday, March 6, in support of Yvan Colonna.
Under a fine and cold rain, the demonstrators – 4,200 according to the prefecture, 15,000 according to the nationalist organizers -, parade through the narrow streets of Corte, the ancient Corsican capital in the 18th centurye century. Corsicans from all over the island, in support of « Yvan », as they call it. The independence activist, imprisoned in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône) for the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998, was violently attacked by a fellow prisoner on Wednesday. Since then, he has been between life and death, treated in a Marseille hospital.
“State hypocrisy, contempt too”
At the head of the procession, students, at the origin of the rally, advance behind a banner with a photo of Mr. Colonna and the slogan “murderous French state” in the Corsican language. All the nationalist parties on the island, the unions and associations defending Corsican prisoners, and even the Corsican League for Human Rights had also called for protests.
Anne Seta, 55, is not a nationalist, but calls herself a regionalist. She came from Ajaccio, an hour and a half away, because “It already affects on a human level (…)it’s important to be there for Yvan and the family”. “It shouldn’t have happened if we might have been heard, we have the impression of state hypocrisy, contempt too”, she insists. The prisoner, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment, as well as two other members of the “Erignac commando”, have been asking for years to serve their sentences in Corsica, close to theirs, which they have always been denied.
Simone Cambiaggio, 49, a member of the Femu a Corsica autonomist party, came from Bastia, more than an hour’s drive away, to “send a message to the French State to listen to us a little more (…). What has just happened is serious because it gives us the impression that this assassination attempt was sponsored by the state.”, she assures. Yvan Colonna’s family claimed on Sunday that “the investigation highlights the multiple administrative dysfunctions” and expressed his doubts regarding the “jihadist trail” advanced by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office.
Passing through the narrow streets of the center of Corte, the procession, howling alternately “Shit French! » and “Ivan! Ivan! Ivan! », calls on people watching the protest from their windows to applaud them. In front of the Corte hospital, around fifteen caregivers also came out to encourage them.
Clashes at the end of the demonstration
Expecting a large mobilization on Sunday, the authorities sent three mobile forces as reinforcements. Anti-riot barriers were set up in front of the sub-prefecture from midday, with police cars behind.
Shortly before 4 p.m., incidents began to punctuate the demonstration, which had begun calmly: young people in hoods threw projectiles and “agricultural bombs” (homemade bombs) on the forces of order massed to protect access to the sub-prefecture. In response, security forces responded with water cannons and tear gas.
Two hours following the start of the incidents, a hundred rioters continued to confront the police, while most of the demonstrators remained on the Cours Paoli, in the background. As they passed, the protesters, all in black and with raised fists, were applauded by the demonstrators. Several garbage cans were set on fire as well as a car registered in the Rhône. A tricolor flag was also burned by protesters – an offense punishable by six months in prison. By 6:30 p.m., all protesters had dispersed and the incidents were over. Only residual fires continued to burn in front of the sub-prefecture.
Firefighters counted 25 injured among the demonstrators, 15 of whom were taken to hospital. “There is no serious case, no vital prognosis involved, it is essentially sutures and shrapnel wounds”Christophe Hebert, chief physician of the SDIS of Haute-Corse, told Agence France-Presse.
Four police officers injured
On Sunday evening, in a statement, the prefect of Haute-Corse said he « [condamnait] the violence committed and [a appelé] until they cease”. He also brought “its support for the mobilized police forces and the injured gendarmes”. According to the prefecture, the jets of “Molotov cocktails, petanque balls, dumbbells, agricultural bombs and (…) other bullets » injured four gendarmes. “If their vital prognosis is not engaged, their condition required their care in a hospital structure”, adds the prefecture, which specifies that demonstrators tried to explode a gas bottle near the gendarmes “in defiance of their own safety and that of the police”.
The president of the Corsica community, Gilles Simeoni, who took part in the demonstration and helped an injured person, preferred, for his part, to retain “an unprecedented mobilization (…). All the Corsican people have expressed their sadness, their misunderstanding, their anger, and Paris would be wise to take this into account. “. According to him, “the government and the state since the attempted assassination of Yvan Colonna (…) would have had ample means, if they had had this will, to give signs of appeasement”.