The Fort Worth Press - Riots in Corsica over jailed nationalist leave dozens injured

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 73.115207
ALL 94.299186
AMD 398.437872
ANG 1.797019
AOA 914.503981
ARS 1053.827213
AUD 1.573564
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.862933
BBD 2.01324
BDT 121.150641
BGN 1.862933
BHD 0.376625
BIF 2952.421775
BMD 1
BND 1.33781
BOB 6.889556
BRL 5.704704
BSD 0.997095
BTN 86.442825
BWP 13.753393
BYN 3.263133
BYR 19600
BZD 2.002858
CAD 1.41895
CDF 2866.000362
CHF 0.899766
CLF 0.024543
CLP 941.83931
CNY 7.254041
CNH 7.259304
COP 4125.160737
CRC 505.596038
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.02929
CZK 23.852704
DJF 177.558699
DKK 7.111125
DOP 61.980283
DZD 135.26218
EGP 50.596752
ERN 15
ETB 127.714435
EUR 0.952604
FJD 2.297304
FKP 0.803654
GBP 0.794565
GEL 2.82504
GGP 0.803654
GHS 15.405058
GIP 0.803654
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8620.279087
GTQ 7.69729
GYD 208.610754
HKD 7.78461
HNL 25.419822
HRK 7.225076
HTG 130.466257
HUF 383.42504
IDR 16179.85
ILS 3.54655
IMP 0.803654
INR 86.630504
IQD 1306.186598
IRR 42087.503816
ISK 140.050386
JEP 0.803654
JMD 157.451064
JOD 0.709504
JPY 152.301504
KES 128.970805
KGS 87.450384
KHR 3991.998857
KMF 468.603794
KPW 900.090061
KRW 1441.430383
KWD 0.30832
KYD 0.830881
KZT 495.727961
LAK 21669.762347
LBP 89289.612802
LKR 294.680192
LRD 198.923656
LSL 18.321665
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.892127
MAD 9.954565
MDL 18.645521
MGA 4696.861456
MKD 58.608373
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3461.151901
MOP 7.993904
MRU 39.694242
MUR 46.470378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1728.818403
MXN 20.301504
MYR 4.434504
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.321665
NGN 1515.000344
NIO 36.690956
NOK 11.126835
NPR 138.30833
NZD 1.745673
OMR 0.38475
PAB 0.997095
PEN 3.704529
PGK 4.010097
PHP 57.695038
PKR 278.325761
PLN 3.97197
PYG 7856.360432
QAR 3.634995
RON 4.743404
RSD 111.568319
RUB 90.965376
RWF 1398.961756
SAR 3.75053
SBD 8.432716
SCR 14.38015
SDG 601.000339
SEK 10.69502
SGD 1.339104
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.750371
SLL 20969.505638
SOS 569.795685
SRD 35.223038
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.724103
SYP 13003.016048
SZL 18.317855
THB 33.738038
TJS 10.883269
TMT 3.5
TND 3.157022
TOP 2.342104
TRY 36.24933
TTD 6.766681
TWD 32.680504
TZS 2592.46559
UAH 41.490784
UGX 3669.095585
UYU 43.310949
UZS 12955.184074
VES 61.976954
VND 25390
VUV 123.663246
WST 2.837369
XAF 624.810211
XAG 0.031102
XAU 0.000347
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.763442
XOF 624.810211
XPF 113.597181
YER 248.000331
ZAR 18.359804
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.093537
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    -0.0700

    12.35

    -0.57%

  • GSK

    -0.3800

    36.17

    -1.05%

  • BCC

    1.0300

    121.63

    +0.85%

  • AZN

    -0.8700

    73.58

    -1.18%

  • NGG

    -0.5400

    60.73

    -0.89%

  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • CMSC

    0.0900

    23.5

    +0.38%

  • BTI

    -0.7900

    38.82

    -2.04%

  • RIO

    0.0700

    63.36

    +0.11%

  • BCE

    0.1900

    23.82

    +0.8%

  • JRI

    0.0435

    12.83

    +0.34%

  • RELX

    -0.8400

    51.07

    -1.64%

  • BP

    0.5100

    35

    +1.46%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.36

    -0.84%

  • CMSD

    0.1872

    23.69

    +0.79%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.84

    +0.26%

Riots in Corsica over jailed nationalist leave dozens injured
Riots in Corsica over jailed nationalist leave dozens injured

Riots in Corsica over jailed nationalist leave dozens injured

The French government called for calm on Monday after fierce clashes left dozens of demonstrators and police injured on the island of Corsica, where anger over the assault in prison of a nationalist figure has reached boiling point.

Text size:

Police reported 67 people injured during protests on Sunday, including 44 police, following scenes that onlookers described as akin to urban guerrilla war.

"The overnight scenes were extremely violent," the chief prosecutor in the north Corsican town of Bastia, Arnaud Viornery, told AFP.

Police had to deal with a "quasi-insurrectional" situation, according to a statement by their union, SG Police.

Yvan Colonna is serving a life sentence for the assassination in 1998 of the top state official in Corsica, Claude Erignac.

He has been in a coma since being beaten on March 2 in jail by a fellow detainee, a convicted jihadist.

The incident stoked anger on the island, where some see Colonna as a hero in a fight for independence from France.

He was arrested in 2003 after a five-year manhunt that eventually found him living as a shepherd in the Corsican mountains.

Demonstrations and riots have been ongoing since the prison attack, which protesters blame on the French government.

"French government murderers", read placards at Sunday's demonstrations. An estimated crowd of between 7,000 and 12,000 people took to the streets.

Colonna was jailed in the south of France. He is classed as a special status detainee which prevents him from being transferred to a Corsican jail.

In response to the unrest, Prime Minister Jean Castex has removed this status for Colonna and two other convicts, but this has failed to placate their supporters.

Hundreds of masked demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks against police, who fired teargas and water cannon.

Clashes broke out in the afternoon and lasted late into the evening.

Prosecutor Viornery said protesters were using homemade explosive devices filled with gunpowder, lead or nails.

Police ordered people to stay indoors in Bastia where protesters set the tax office on fire with incendiary devices and damaged the inside of the main post office.

On Monday, Bastia was calm, with no visible damage done to shops, according to AFP reporters.

- Anger and indignation -

Corsica, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte and one of the Mediterranean's largest islands, has been French since the 18th Century.

It is known as the "Island of Beauty" for its unspoiled coastlines, spectacular beaches and mild climate, which have made tourism its main source of income.

But there have also been constant tensions between independence-seeking nationalists and the central government as well as murders between the island's political factions.

"There is an expression of anger and indignation," Gilles Simeoni, Colonna's former lawyer and a pro-independence politician, said on Sunday.

"The entire Corsican people has been mobilised to protest against injustice and in favour of truth and a real political solution."

One demonstrator at Sunday's protest, Antoine Negretti, said, "Any violence will be the fault of the French government."

Seven years of negotiations had yielded no result, the 29-year-old said. "But things have changed thanks to seven days of violence. Violence is necessary."

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday he will travel to Corsica on Wednesday for a two-day visit, seeking to "open a cycle of discussions" with all political forces on the island.

He condemned the recent violence and called "for an immediate return to calm".

M.T.Smith--TFWP