After the mourning, a new episode of anger in Corsica. Two rallies quickly interspersed with scuffles were held this Sunday in front of two barracks near Bastia and in Ajaccio: independence organizations accused some CRS of having sung the Marseillaise on the day of the funeral of activist Yvan Colonna.
In front of the Furiani barracks, south of Bastia, at least 500 people had moved. Shortly after the start of the rally in the early evening, a few dozen young people shook the gates of the cantonment, lighting a fire, provoking tear gas from the CRS. A sign in Corsican “Francesi di merda” (French for shit) was also hung. Then, around fifty hooded demonstrators threw stones, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at the police.
In Ajaccio, some 200 people also gathered in front of the Aspretto barracks. Some demonstrators lit a fire in front of the gate resulting in a response from the police with tear gas canisters and water cannons. The dispersal took place shortly after 8 p.m.
The call to demonstrate in front of the Furiani barracks was launched by the independence movements Core in Fronte, Corsica Libera and nationalist student unions, which are the main drivers of the mobilization after the death of Yvan Colonna, attacked in prison while that he was serving a life sentence for the assassination of the prefect Claude Erignac.
A video that rekindles anger
Since Saturday, nationalist circles have been indignant on social networks at a video allegedly shot in the CRS cantonment of Furiani on the day of the funeral where a Marseillaise is heard without distinguishing those present. The Corsican deputy Jean-Félix cAquaviva sees it, for example, on Twitter as “pure hatred” and demands “immediate accounts from the government”. For the autonomist party Femu a Corsica of the president of the executive council of Corsica Gilles Simeoni, who however did not call to demonstrate, it is about “colonial hatred in the pure state”.
Contacted by AFP, the police information and communication service (Sicop) did not wish to make “communication on this video”. According to a police union source, “this company was on rest and they ate outside because the weather was right. As usual, they sang many songs including La Marseillaise, but unrelated to Yvan Colonna’s funeral. Another union source said: “The songs are real but no connotation of anything”, another local source said that no words against Yvan Colonna were heard.