CRS did sing “La Marseillaise” while Yvan Colonna was buried at the same time… but the two events would have no connection. Several videos had been published in this direction, creating tensions with the Corsican separatists who had called Sunday for rallies in front of CRS barracks. According to an investigation carried out by France info, the various videos were indeed shot on March 25, around 3 p.m., in the barracks of Furiani (Haute-Corse).
According to the elements collected from the vicinity of the barracks, it was 2:59 p.m. when the CRS sang “La Marseillaise”. Another video, viewed by the media, shows these same men singing the nursery rhyme “Alouette, gentille alouette”. The author of these videos, met by France info, said he posted them on social networks after a first video, showing the same thing, was considered false. “I read so much everywhere that it was false that I absolutely had to testify because it was very, very shocking,” she explained. She, who has worked in the neighborhood for several years, says she has never heard the CRS sing until now.
Yvan Colonna’s sister, Christine Colonna, relayed one of these videos, saying she heard “They got it”. Inaudible words in each of the videos. The witness met by France info did not hear it either: “That does not mean that they did not say it, she comments. There were people who shouted, asked them to stop and some, it made them laugh. This same witness heard no comments relating to Yvan Colonna.
Nothing to do with Yvan Colonna?
Contacted by France info, an unquoted union source notes, however, that CRS began to sing well before the start of the funeral of Yvan Colonna, from 1:30 p.m. A barbecue was also organized on Friday within the barracks, but several sources told France info that it had nothing to do with Yvan Colonna.
According to a police union source interviewed by AFP on Sunday, “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”, and another local source said that no words against Yvan Colonna were heard.
The release of these videos sparked passions in nationalist camps, mourning the death of Yvan Colonna, who died on March 23, 2022, three weeks after his assault in prison. Corsican MP Jean-Félix Aquaviva (Libertés et Territoires group) called for “accountability to the government”. The autonomous party Femu a Corsica of the president of the executive council of Corsica Gilles Simeoni, who did not call for a demonstration, however, denounced a “pure colonial hatred”.
Calls to demonstrate had been launched for Sunday by the independence movements Core in Fronte, Corsica Libera and nationalist student unions. 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, lit a fire, provoking tear gas from the CRS. About 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 protesters lit a fire in front of the gate leading to a retaliation by law enforcement with tear gas grenades and a water cannon.