The Minister of the Interior is going to Corsica on March 16 and 17. He participates in a “discussion cycle” on the status of Corsica, to reduce tensions on the island. The elected nationalists and the demonstrators await the rapprochement of the Corsican detainees and concrete announcements on the autonomy of Corsica.
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“We are ready to go as far as autonomy“. The word is released by Gérald Darmanin this March 16 in the Corse-Matin newspaper. A special status for the island could emerge from the “talk cycle“which is committed this Wednesday, and to which the Minister must go. He is expected in Ajaccio, where he will meet in particular Gilles Simeoni, the President of the Council of the Corsican Executive, and Marie-Antoinette Maurepuis, President of the assembly of corsica.
Wednesday morning, young demonstrators awaited him firmly. This time, the demonstration took place in peace. No breakage, no shouting, not even banners to accuse the French state of assassination. Yannick, a 19-year-old civil engineering student, insisted on coming back to demonstrate for “put pressure“a few hours before the minister’s arrival.
“We want to send a message, to show that the Corsican people are mobilizing, and in support of Yvan Colonna’s family.”
Yannick, studentat franceinfo
The assassination attempt on Yvan Colonna was a trigger to remobilize all these young people, most of whom were already very politicized. “My grandparents were beaten for not speaking Corsican” says Marie, 25 years old. “I blame the French state, because that’s how we lose a tongue. Of course, we cannot say that Corsica was colonized. But it’s still aspects of colonization when you hit people so that they don’t speak their language.“
“It touches me to see the young people of the island mobilizing today”, says Marcellu Cesari, 70, mayor of Riventosa, a town nestled in the Corsican mountains. He and Antone Cassanova, 29, mayor of Pioggiola, are also looking forward to the discussion cycle. Marcellu Cesari is a member of “Femu a Corsica” (Let’s make Corsica), the majority nationalist party in Corsica, and has been campaigning for autonomy for years. “The current mobilization takes me back to my memories. I joined when I was 27. I practiced political violence. We had the feeling that there was only this solution to be heard. And today, so many years later, we find ourselves in the same situation. And in response, we have only the contempt of the government.“
Antone Casanova, also a nationalist, but without a party, said:we have to wait for an assassination attempt in prison and a week of scuffles for the state to deign to send a minister to perhaps announce things“. The young mayor is wary of the minister’s declarations: “Instead of words, we want concrete actions. We must not believe in everything and anything. There are things that we can apply today, such as the release of political prisoners. And then, Emmanuel Macron must make commitments to the whole of France as to institutional evolution of Corsica.”
“As long as the Corsican people are not respected, as long as we are despised by the Parisian authorities, the mobilization will continue.”
Pierre-François, Corsican protesterat franceinfo
For the two electedall candidates must take up the subject. They believe that, in any case, autonomy will be achieved one day. “I am not pessimistic about the future. We’ll get there, that’s for sure. I support this youth.Marcellu Cesari says the two mayors say they are ready to join the protesters in the streets if the talks that start today with the government do not work.