More than 500 people demonstrated this Sunday in a tense atmosphere in front of a CRS barracks near Bastia at the call of independence organizations which accuse some CRS of having sung the Marseillaise on the day of the funeral of activist Yvan Colonna, according to journalists from AFP.
This call to protest in front of the Furiani barracks, south of Bastia, was launched by the pro-independence movements Core in Fronte, Corsica Libera (a minority in the Corsican Assembly) and the nationalist student unions, which are the main drivers of the mobilization after the death of Yvan Colonna, who was assaulted in prison while serving a life sentence for the murder of Prefect Claude Erignac.
Tear gas shots
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, noted an AFP correspondent. A sign in Corsican “Francesi di merda” (French shit) was also hung, according to an AFPTV journalist.
Then, around fifty hooded demonstrators threw stones, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at the police. Two people among the police were slightly injured in the hand, according to the prefecture of Haute-Corse. Firefighters reported minor injuries to protesters.
In Ajaccio, about 200 people also gathered in front of the Aspretto barracks. Some protesters lit a fire in front of the gate, prompting law enforcement with a tear gas grenade and a water cannon. The protesters dispersed around 8 p.m.
Since Saturday, nationalist circles have been outraged on social media in 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. For example, the Corsican MP Jean-Félix Aquaviva (Libertés et Territoires group) sees “pure hatred” on Twitter and demands “immediate accountability from the government”.
For the autonomous party Femu a Corsica of the president of the executive council of Corsica Gilles Simeoni, who did not call to protest, however, this is a “pure colonial hatred.” Contacted by AFP, the police information and communication service (Sicop) declined to comment on the video.
According to a police union source interviewed by AFP, “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.