Les Jardins de l'Empereur (literally, "The Emperor's Gardens") is a neighbourhood of Ajaccio, Corsica, France. The neighbourhood has been described as a banlieue [1] and is classed as a sensitive urban zone (ZUS). [2] The majority of its inhabitants are foreign, of which North Africans predominate. [1] The neighbourhood made national and international headlines due to violent unrest in December 2015, [3] [4] after which programmes were initiated to improve it. [1]
According to the French bureau of statistics INSEE, the neighbourhood had a 10.6% unemployment rate in 2006 as compared to 9.8% for the city as a whole. The median household income was €13,009, the lowest of the four vulnerable neighbourhoods profiled, and nearly half as much as the €24,567 average for the city. In 2006, 10.7% of the population qualified for subsidised healthcare (CMU-C) the second highest rate of the four profiled neighbourhoods and compared to the 8.3% average. [5]
In 2018, the neighbourhood had a population of 2,200, including Corsicans, North Africans and Portuguese people. [6] In December 2020, Les Echos profiled the neighbourhood as having 1,700 residents in 480 households, of which the majority were homeowners and also of foreign nationality. [2] The principal buildings are named after members of the local House of Bonaparte. [1]
The neighbourhood made national and international headlines on 24 December 2015 when police and firefighters were attacked when responding to a call, by hooded men who said "Corses de merde, vous n'êtes pas chez vous!" (Corsican shits, you are not in your land!). In response, hundreds of Corsicans marched on the neighbourhood and other areas of high Arab population, calling for Arabs to leave the city and vandalising sites including a Muslim prayer room. [7]
In November 2015, the neighbourhood was included in a nationwide programme to improve disadvantaged areas with renovation and infrastructure, and the following January a Citizens' Council was established. [1] In April 2018, the Minister of Territorial Development, Jacques Mézard, visited the neighbourhood. [8] While households had been sold cheaply to escape the neighbourhood following the 2015 unrest, by the fifth anniversary of the violence, a three-room apartment had nearly doubled in value from €80,000 to €150,000. [1]
Ajaccio is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the Collectivité territoriale de Corse. It is also the largest settlement on the island. Ajaccio is located on the west coast of the island of Corsica, 210 nautical miles (390 km) southeast of Marseille.
Corsican is a Romance language constituted by the complex of the Italo-Romance dialects spoken on the Mediterranean island of Corsica (France) and on the northern end of the island of Sardinia (Italy). Corsican is closely related to the Tuscan varieties from the Italian peninsula, and therefore to the Florentine-based standard Italian.
Corte is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.
Athletic Club Ajaccio, commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in Ligue 2. The club president is Christian Leca, and the first-team is coached by manager Olivier Pantaloni, following the sacking of Christian Bracconi in October 2014. Ajaccio play their home matches at the Stade François Coty and are rivals with fellow Corsican club Bastia, with whom they contest the Corsica derby.
The Corsican Assembly is the unicameral legislative body of the territorial collectivity of Corsica. It has its seat at the Grand Hôtel d'Ajaccio et Continental, in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio. After the 2017 territorial elections, the assembly was expanded from 51 to 63 seats, with the executive council expanding from 9 to 11 members.
Vescovato is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.
Cargèse is a village and commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the west coast of the island of Corsica, 27 km north of Ajaccio. As of 2017, the commune had a population of 1,325.
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and politically one of the eighteen 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 land mass nearest to it. A single chain of mountains makes up two-thirds of the island. In 2018, it had a population of 338,550.
Gazélec Football Club Ajaccio, commonly referred to as GFC Ajaccio, GFCA, Gazélec Ajaccio or simply Gazélec, is a French football club from Ajaccio, Corsica. Founded in 1960, Gazélec play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of football in France.
Sollacaro is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.
Morosaglia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. Since 2015, it is the seat of the canton of Golo-Morosaglia.
Corsican nationalism is a nationalist movement in Corsica, France, active since the 1960s, that advocates more autonomy for the island, if not outright independence.
Palais Lantivy is a Neoclassical palace in Ajaccio, Corsica. It serves as the Corsican Prefecture, the headquarters for administration of the department of Corse-du-Sud and the General Council. Construction occurred between 1826 and 1830, under a plan of the architect Alphonse de Gisors. It was listed as a historical monument on 30 January 1990.
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 will determine the composition of the Executive Council of Corsica. The elections, held only two years after the 2015 territorial elections, 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.
Thomas William Marshall was an English post-impressionist painter and water colorist, born on October 28, 1875 at Donisthorpe in England. He passed away on September 14, 1914 in Paris.
Edmond Simeoni was a Corsican doctor, politician and nationalist. He was the brother of Max Simeoni, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1994 and father of Gilles Simeoni.
Pierre Cangioni is a French sports journalist, best known for presenting the French football television programme Téléfoot from 1977 to 1982. He was the president of Olympique de Marseille from 1994–95.
Laurent Marcangeli is a French politician. He was mayor of Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, in 2014 and since 2015, and was a member of the National Assembly from 2012 to 2017, representing Corse-du-Sud's 1st constituency. He was a member of the nationwide right-wing parties Union for a Popular Movement and The Republicans before starting his own party "Ajaccio !" in 2018.