Corsican conflict | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Anti-separatist paramilitaries
Criminal groups | Corsican nationalist paramilitaries: National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) A Cuncolta Naziunalista (ACN) (1987-1998) Armata di U Populu Corsu (APC) (2004-2006) Armata Corsa (AC) (1999-2001) Resistenza (1989-2003) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,800+ Police and Gendarmeries, [2] and 1,300 Soldiers (of the FFL, by Calvi) | 300–1,000 members | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
14 killed | Several arrested | ||||||
+140 deaths [3] |
History of Corsica |
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Historyportal |
The Corsican conflict is an armed and political conflict on the island of Corsica which began in 1976 between the government of France and Corsican nationalist militant groups. Beginning in the 1970s, the Corsican conflict peaked in the 1980s before Corsican nationalist groups and the French government reached a truce in 2016. It is currently ongoing following the 2022 Corsica unrest.
Following its opening salvo on 4 May 1976,[ clarification needed ] the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) launched a series of bomb attacks across the island on 20 May. The series of attacks and the emergence of the FLNC coincided with the trial of ten members of the recently outlawed Action Régionaliste Corse. The prosecutors claimed that the men had been involved in the shooting dead of two French gendarmerie officers during a stand-off in a vineyard at Aleria in the summer of 1975. [4] During the summer of 1976 the FLNC became more active, and on the night of 17 July it carried out a fresh wave of attacks which included a rocket and mortar attack on the gendarmerie in Aghione, which involved the use of an American M79 grenade launcher. [5] This increased speculation that the FLNC were being supplied by Libya, who were at the time supplying other revolutionary groups in Europe, including the Provisional IRA. By September 1976 there were attempting assassinations of high-ranking French military officials. In separate incidents in the town of Corte, a general narrowly missed assassination when his car was riddled with bullets; his driver lost an ear in the attack. Meanwhile, the home of another senior officer in the town was targeted in a bomb attack. [6] On 7 September, seven masked militiamen hijacked and bombed a Boeing 707 parked at Ajaccio's airport. [7]
The beginning of 1977 saw little FLNC activity. In April there were a number of attacks on premises associated with Corsican nationalists and the FLNC. The attacks were claimed by a new group calling itself FRANCIA (Front d'Action Nouvelle Contre l'Indépendance et l'Autonomie). [8] Although other anti-separatist groups existed in Corsica, FRANCIA appeared to be the only group capable of carrying out actual attacks. On 14 May this group destroyed the printing presses of Arritti (a Corsican nationalist publication) in a bomb attack. The FLNC responded to the attacks on 24 May by carrying out a daring raid on the French army outpost at Fort-Lacroix, near Bastia, where eight armed militants blew up wireless facilities after subduing the sentries. At the beginning of June they destroyed a large section of Bastia railway station in a bomb attack; a month later the FLNC launched an overnight bomb offensive hitting 27 French targets followed by the bombing of the television relay station at Serra di Pigno. [9] [10] On the night of 13 January 1978, nine armed militiamen wearing balaclavas stormed and bombed the NATO radar station at Solenzara using 40 kg of explosives, in the so-called "Operation Zara". [10] [11] [12] [13]
The FLNC suffered a serious setback in May 1978 when 27 suspected members were arrested both in Corsica and France. [14] The police stumbled upon an FLNC weapons-dump in the town of Cardo during an investigation into an ordinary burglary. While at the scene the police noticed men nearby moving what looked like weapons. The incident resulted in over 300 people being questioned and more than 60 detained by the authorities. Other suspects were picked up in Paris, Nice and Lyons. In December 1978 the FLNC increased its attacks on police barracks – in one incident the gendarmerie base at Borgo was raked with heavy machine gun fire – resulting in a fear that the FLNC would now begin to concentrate its attacks on people as well as material targets. [15] At this time the FLNC also began to demand that their prisoners be treated as political prisoners.
In 1979 the number of FLNC attacks increased; in a two-month period from January to the beginning of March there were over 115 bomb attacks on the island. [16] However, in July a number of their activists were captured and sentenced to long prison terms resulting in a lack of action or activity on the part of the FLNC. The Front announced it would now launch a "new offensive in the liberation struggle" and advised Corsicans who were members of the police or Army to leave the island. [17] On 10 March, ten banks across Corsica were car-bombed by the FLNC. Then on 10 April three banks in Paris were also damaged in explosions, and later the Paris Law Courts were devastated by a time-bomb which cost over 3 million francs worth of damage. The late 1970s and early 1980s marked a decisive change of FLNC policy, similar to the one employed by the IRA. The FLNC now decided to "Bring the Corsican problem to the French" by carrying out bomb attacks on the French mainland. On 6 May 1979 the FLNC managed to bomb 20 banks in Paris and on 30 May more banks were damaged by explosions. [18] The beginning of June saw the FLNC switch back to activities on the island itself with twenty-five major explosions coupled with a car bomb attack on the Police Headquarters in Paris. On 14 May 1980 the FLNC bombed the Law Courts in Paris and also carried out a machine-gun attack on four gendarmes who were guarding the Iranian embassy, wounding three. [19]
The year of 1980 also saw FLNC supporters becoming more visible in terms of protests and political activity. The FLNC continued to call for their prisoners to be given political status. Mass demonstrations in support of political status for Corsican prisoners were common and FLNC supporters were active in all protests which could be classified as "Corsican V French". [20] In November 1980, 12 FLNC prisoners in Paris went on hunger-strike in a protest against the inequality of treatment for Corsican nationalist prisoners. This protest overlapped with that of six IRA hunger strikers in Northern Ireland. [21] The Corsican prisoners were force-fed for a number of weeks before they ended their strike. On 1 April 1981 the FLNC called a ceasefire for the duration of the Presidential Elections and following the victory of François Mitterrand, announced they would extend the ceasefire to "see how things develop". [22]
On 18 September the FLNC announced the end of its ceasefire at a press conference held in the mountains of central Corsica. They condemned the autonomists for attempting to use the "usual useless channels" of the political system and opposed French "appeasement policies" before stating that the armed struggle would resume and that the FLNC would not lay down its arms. [23]
On 19 August 1982 the FLNC launched its most spectacular night of violence with the so-called "violente nuit bleue", during which 99 attacks were carried out against government targets.
In the mid-1980s the organisation also stepped up its attacks against suspected drug dealers, killing four in the space of twelve months in 1986.
In 1988 a truce was agreed between the French government and the FLNC. However, the ceasefire did not sit well with certain members of the organisation, resulting in a split within the movement. [24]
The 1990s saw the FLNC organisation tear itself apart through a series of deadly internal feuds. Much of the reason for the splits and feuds was the political rivalries of the members within the organisation as well as personal disputes.
November 1991 saw one of the first shootouts between the FLNC and military gendarmes when an FLNC commando managed to shoot its way out of an ambush and escape. The same year the FLNC carried out an attack against a refinery on the neighbouring island of Sardinia.[ citation needed ]
In December 1996 the FLNC began a Christmas offensive across Corsica. In Figari the FLNC launched a machine-gun attack on military barracks there while in Zicavo a grenade attack was carried out on the Police Station. [25] [26] In 1997 the FLNC Canal-Habituel faction called a ceasefire which resulted in the Canal Historique faction attempting to take control of the organisation and launch a fresh offensive. In 1998 FLNC attacks soared with policemen and mayors among the dead. The offensive culminated in the assassination of Claude Érignac in Ajaccio. Érignac was the Prefect of Corsica and the top representative of the Fifth French Republic on the island. The attack was highly publicized and criticized so strongly by the locals that the FLNC were forced to deny that they were responsible, [27] while consensus for independence reached an all-time low among the population (6%). Splits, internal feuding, ceasefires and breaches of ceasefires have characterized the FLNC ever since 1999.
The FLNC has continued its attacks into the 2000s, although at a much reduced tempo when compared with the late 1970s. [28] Many FLNC bombs failed to detonate or attacks had to be aborted. Nevertheless, the FLNC did manage to carry out a number of successful attacks including the 2002 bombing of a military barracks in Lumio which injured a number of gendarmes, bomb attacks against a number of hotels in Marseille in 2004 and rocket attacks against a number of barracks in 2007.
In 2009 it carried out a car bomb attack against a gendarmerie barracks in Vescovato. The FLNC also claimed that all the different factions had reunified. During the early 2000s the FLNC had been divided into the FLNC-UC, the FLNC-1976, and the FLNC-22 October. [29]
The FLNC continued its attacks against the properties of French mainlanders living on Corsica. At the end of 2011 the group released a statement in which it claimed responsibility for 38 bomb attacks in the preceding 4 months. In the statement the armed group said they "would remain attentive and never let pass an opportunity for peace." [30]
In June 2014, the FLNC-UC announced the cessation of the armed struggle, stating that the Front has "decided to engage unilaterally in a process of demilitarisation and a progressive exit from clandestinity." [31] [32] On 3 May 2016, the FLNC-22 announced that they will "end military operations" by October 2016, following the lead of the FLNC-UC, in order to allow the island's new assembly, led by nationalists, "to fulfil its mandate calmly". [33] [32] In July 2016, FLNC-22 warned of a "determined response, without any qualms" for any jihadist attack in Corsica. [34]
Despite the official cessation of hostilities in 2014, a number of attacks took place in the 2010s, most likely conducted by small splinter groups. On 15 October 2016, riots erupted in Bastia over the conviction of three nationalists for a bomb attack in 2012. Molotov cocktails and projectiles were thrown at police. [35] In March 2019, prior to President Emmanuel Macron visiting Corsica on 4 April, two villas were bombed without any injuries.[ citation needed ] Then, just three days before the arrival of President Emmanuel Macron, two homemade explosive devices were found in front of government buildings in Bastia. [36] At the end of September 2019, a group of Corsican nationalists, one of which was armed, announced the revival of the FLNC in a video message. The group threatened to attack property of foreign investors, and demanded that selling land to non-Corsicans should be prohibited. [37] Yet again, on 14 July 2020, a group of four armed militants held a public speech in a village 50 kilometres from Bastia. The group claimed a shooting incident at the Montesoro Gendarmerie in Bastia and left a leaflet demanding mandatory Corsican language education beginning in kindergarten and limitation of tourists to twice the island's population during busy months. [38]
Riots erupted across Corsica after Yvan Colonna was attacked in prison on 2 March 2022. Colonna died of his injuries on 21 March. [39] The courthouse at Ajaccio was assaulted by a crowd, which attempted to set it on fire. [40] Stones and flares were thrown at gendarmes. [41] In Bastia and Calvi, the rioters attacked the police with petrol bombs, home-made bombs and slingshots; the anti-riot squad responded with tear gas. [40] Prosecutors reported 102 people wounded, 77 of them policemen. [42] In April, a number of villas were burned to the ground in Canale-di-Verde, Ghisonaccia, [43] Pianottoli-Caldarello, [44] and Conca. [45] The FLNC said in a statement that the group supports the protest and hints it could resume their operations. [42]
Anti-semitic and anti-french graffiti appeared with FLNC being reportedly responsible. [46]
Corte is a commune in the Haute-Corse department, on the island of Corsica, France.
Corse-du-Sud is an administrative department of France, consisting of the southern part of the island of Corsica. The corresponding departmental territorial collectivity merged with that of Haute-Corse on 1 January 2018, forming the single territorial collectivity of Corsica, with territorial elections coinciding with the dissolution of the separate council. Although its administrative powers were ceded to the new territorial collectivity, it continues to remain an administrative department in its own right. In 2019, it had a population of 158,507.
The National Liberation Front of Corsica is a militant group that advocates an independent state on the island of Corsica, separate from France. The organisation was primarily present in Corsica and less so on the French mainland. A Conculta Naziunalista was often considered to be the political wing of the organisation.
Armata Corsa was an underground separatist terrorist organization in Corsica, founded in 1999 and disbanded around 2001.
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the French mainland, west of the Italian Peninsula and immediately north of the Italian island of Sardinia, the nearest land mass. A single chain of mountains makes up two-thirds of the island. As of January 2024, it had a population of 355,528.
Bernard Bonnet, French civil servant, is best known for being the first prefect since World War II to be convicted of an offense committed in the course of his duties, his role in the "Affair of the beach huts".
The history of Corsica goes back to antiquity, and was known to Herodotus, who described Phoenician habitation in the 6th century BCE. Etruscans and Carthaginians expelled the Phoenicians, and remained until the Romans arrived during the Punic Wars in 237 BCE. Vandals occupied it in 430 CE, followed by the Byzantine Empire a century later.
Yvan Colonna was an Italian/Corsican nationalist convicted for the assassination in 1998 of the prefect of Corse-du-Sud, Claude Érignac. He was beaten to death in prison by a jihadist inmate, sparking riots.
Claude Jean Pierre Érignac was a French prefect on the island of Corsica.
Pietrosella is a French commune in the department of Corse-du-Sud, on the island of Corsica.
Algajola is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.
Corsican nationalism is the concept of a cohesive nation of Corsica and a national identity of its people. The Corsican autonomy movement stems from Corsican nationalism and advocates for further autonomy for the island, if not outright independence from France.
The Italian occupation of Corsica refers to the military occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the French island of Corsica during the Second World War, from November 1942 to September 1943. After an initial period of increased control over the island, by early spring 1943 the Maquis had begun to occupy the hinterland. In the aftermath of the Armistice of Cassibile, the Italian capitulation to the Allies, some Italian units sided with German troops sent to replace the Italian garrison and some defected to the Maquis and Free French Forces.
The 2015 Corsican protests were a series of marches by several hundred Corsican nationalists that began on 25 December, in Ajaccio, capital of Corsica. During the initial demonstrations, a Muslim prayer hall was burned down and Qur'ans were set alight. Further protests were organised after the initial march despite a government ban on protests until 4 January 2016. The protesters claimed to be acting in revenge for an incident that occurred the day prior when firefighters and police were assaulted in the neighbourhood of Les Jardins de l'Empereur; however, outside observers labeled the ensuing riots as anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. The Corsican nationalist politicians have claimed their view does not legitimise xenophobia, blaming the protest on French nationalism instead. Scholarly opinions on this claim are divided.
Pè a Corsica was a Corsican nationalist political alliance in France, which was calling for more autonomy for Corsica. More specifically, it was a coalition of the two Corsican nationalist parties active on the island; that is, the moderately autonomist Femu a Corsica and the strongly committed separatist Corsica Libera. The party was led by the autonomist Gilles Simeoni. The alliance was renewed for the 2017 territorial election. However, the alliance was dissolved for the 2021 territorial election.
The 2017 Corsican territorial elections were held on 3 and 10 December 2017 to elect 63 members of the Corsican Assembly, who in turn determined the composition of the Executive Council of Corsica. The election was held only two years after the 2015 territorial elections, and were called as a result of the planned creation of a single collectivity within Corsica resulting from the mergers of two departments, and the existing territorial collectivity of Corsica.
A double bomb attack took place in the city of Nice, France on 20 July 2003. Sixteen people were injured in the blasts against the regional directorates of customs and the treasury. The Corsican separatist National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC) claimed responsibility, and was one of the biggest bombs exploded by the group on the French mainland.
In March 2022, the island of Corsica, France, saw protests in response to a prison attack on nationalist leader Yvan Colonna. There were rallies in the main cities of Ajaccio, Calvi and Bastia that descended into violent clashes between police and protestors. Protestors threw stones and flares at gendarmes.
The Petit Bar Gang is an organized crime group from Corsica. It gets its name from the "Petit Bar," an establishment in Ajaccio, owned by Ange-Marie Michelosi, a lieutenant of Jean-Jérôme Colonna, from whose gang it is said to originate.
Corsican autonomy is the principle and a movement for autonomy or self government for the island of Corsica, with political powers devolved from the French government.