“If the French state still remained deaf, then (…) quickly the street fights of today will be those of the maquis of the night tomorrow”, warns the press release of the clandestine independence movement which had officially deposited the weapons in 2014, after four decades of armed struggle marked by more than 4,500 claimed attacks. The FLNC, the National Liberation Front of Corsica, threatened Wednesday, in a statement to Corse-Morningto resume the fight, in the face of the “contemptuous denial” of the State in the face of the aspirations of the Corsican people, explaining that “in our country the revolt provokes the insurrection”.
More than 4,500 attacks claimed in 40 years
“If the French State still remained deaf, there could be no sacrifice of youth that did not lead to a proportionate reaction on our part, and the fights in the streets today will soon be those of the maquis of the night of tomorrow”, warns the press release of the clandestine independence movement which had officially laid down its arms in 2014, after four decades of armed struggle marked by more than 4,500 claimed attacks. The clandestine independence group, however, claimed responsibility on September 1 for an attempted attack near Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud) targeting four bungalows belonging to a continental.
Believing that this “contemptuous denial” of the State “has just been brought to its climax by the monstrous assassination attempt on Yvan Colonna in Arles”, the FLNC continues: “Contempt breeds anger, and anger leads to revolt. And with us revolt provokes insurrection.” This threat came on the very day of the arrival of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, on a two-day visit to Corsica to try to ease tensions on the island since the attack on the Corsican independence activist in his prison. , where he was serving a life sentence for his participation in the assassination of the prefect Erignac in 1998 in Ajaccio.
“Ready to go as far as autonomy”
On the eve of his arrival on the island, in an interview with Corse-Morning, the minister had reached out to the autonomist leaders of the Isle of Beauty, explaining that he was “ready to go as far as autonomy” for Corsica. Gérald Darmanin arrived in Ajaccio, at the Collectivity of Corsica, at 3:45 p.m. During his first interviews, he must notably meet Gilles Simeoni, the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica. Asked a few days ago by AFP, political scientist Thierry Dominici, a specialist in nationalist movements, believed that to bring down “the bellows of popular anger” in Corsica, the state had to react quickly.
Regarding the riots in Corsica in recent days, he recalled that violence among young people in Corsica has always existed: “Before, it was fed by the Corsican National Liberation Front. Then, we saw a calmer period, since there is no longer the FLNC. Today, the violence is very comparable to that of the black blocks (young activists dressed in black who take over the demonstrations to do battle with the police, editor’s note) in the sense that they are very organized”.