Une week after the assault in prison of independence activist Yvan Colonna, anger rose a notch on Wednesday evening March 9 in Corsica, with an intrusion and fire starting in the Ajaccio courthouse and several injured in clashes.
Since the nationalist activist, sentenced for the assassination of the prefect Claude Érignac in 1998, is in a coma after being violently attacked by a fellow prisoner imprisoned for terrorism, the demonstrations have multiplied on the island at the call of students , high school students, nationalist organizations or trade unions accusing the state of bearing a heavy responsibility.
Wednesday evening, several hundred people had gathered in Ajaccio, Calvi (Haute-Corse) or Bastia. But very quickly, clashes broke out between some protesters and the police. In Ajaccio, the scuffles continued until midnight and demonstrators broke into the courthouse, which was closed at this time. Reams of paper or waste were burned in the hall and other fire starts blackened the facade, noted a photographer from Agence France-Presse. These fires were quickly extinguished by firefighters.
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The authorities call for “appeasement and dialogue”
“There was a fire on the ground floor of the court, no spread to the floors, but a lot of damage,” Jean-Jacques Peraldi, the director of the fire services, told Agence France-Presse. and relief of Corse-du-Sud. There were at least two arrests, according to a police source. Later, some demonstrators, equipped with a mechanical mini-excavator, degraded a Crédit Agricole branch, before heading to Place Claude-Érignac, a highly symbolic place, Yvan Colonna having been condemned for the assassination of the prefect of Corsica.
There, several people intervened to avoid any damage, a man climbing on the digger and shouting: “We are not scum, we are patriots, get out of here”, according to a correspondent from Agence France- Hurry. At least 14 people were injured, including a TF1 journalist in the leg, according to the prefecture.
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In Calvi, in Haute-Corse, another institutional location has been targeted. After a calm start to the demonstration, “about forty demonstrators, hooded, threw Molotov cocktails at the sub-prefecture and smashed windows with stones,” the prefecture reported in a press release. In this context of escalation, the authorities called for “appeasement and dialogue in order to avoid any new victims”.
“murderous French state”
In Bastia, 23 CRS and three civilians were injured, including a photographer from the daily Corse-Morning, according to a report from the Haute-Corse prefecture published at the end of the demonstration, around 9:30 p.m. “The demonstrators fired Molotov cocktails, agricultural bombs, iron balls, sling shots” and “the CRS maintained the distance with the demonstrators by the use of tear gas, ”detailed the prefecture in a press release. “Only one LBD shot was fired and hit an approaching protester with a Molotov cocktail in the lower parts,” she added.
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Yvan Colonna was imprisoned in the central house of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône). He had been asking for a long time to be brought back to Corsica, which was systematically refused to him because of a status of “particularly reported detainee”. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Jean Castex had lifted this status but this decision, far from appeasing, was deemed much too late in Corsica, Yvan Colonna being between life and death in a Marseille hospital since his attack on March 2 .
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Regarding the two other detainees of the Érignac commando who are also calling for their rapprochement on the island, Alain Ferrandi and Pierre Alessandri, “the Prime Minister will have to decide soon given the present circumstances”, indicated the government spokesman. Gabriel Attal. Some nationalist movements call for the continuation of the mobilization. They took action on Wednesday to hold a united demonstration on Sunday afternoon in Bastia, despite the reluctance of the Colonna family, who said they feared “a new tragedy” in the context. On Sunday, thousands of people had already demonstrated in Corte (Haute-Corse), chanting in Corsica “Statu francesu murdered! »“murderous French state”.