Thousands of Corsicans took to the streets today in the island's capital Ajaccio to support the call by Corsican nationalist leaders for greater autonomy.
Behind a banner with the slogan "Demucrazia è rispettu pè o populu corsu" ("Democracy and respect for the Corsican people"), demonstrators waved Corsican flags and placards reading "Democracy".
The People of Corsica must finally be recognised! Thousands of Corsicans gathered in #Aiacciu#ajaccio to demand for respect from the French gvt. For an open dialogue based on respect! #Sulidarità with the Corsican people! #Demucrazia #rispettu pic.twitter.com/Pd9sT6T4ny
— EuropeanFreeAlliance (@EUPARTYEFA) 3 of February 2018
The march was called on 23rd January by Gilles Simeoni, regional president of Corsica, to protest against the French executive's failure to take into account "the political dimension of the Corsican issue". The timing is key: this Tuesday, 6th February, French president Emmanuel Macron is to make his first official visit to the island since coming to power in May last year.
Mobilisation populaire et pacifique sans précédent dans les rues d’#Aiacciu pic.twitter.com/ZIbtMe2WbI
— Gilles Simeoni (@Gilles_Simeoni) 3 of February 2018
Translation: Popular mobilisation without precedents in the streets of Ajaccio.
The Corsican opposition considers that the march is premature, and that it would have been better to have waited at least to see the results of Macron's visit.
However, pro-Corsican independence leader and president of the Corsican Assembly, Jean-Guy Talamoni, stated in declarations to the news channel BFM TV, that the decision to march arose after the visit that he and Simeoni made to the French authorities in January. "We realised that there was coordination among the institutions to make us begin a juridical process, rather than a political one," explained Talamoni.
The nationalist politician said that a dialogue "with no red lines or preconditions" had to begin, and that Macron's visit needed to give a strong signal of dialogue and opening to Corsican society, and to end the indifference that has prevailed up till now."
For Talamoni, it is critical to make Paris understand that the absolute majority the nationalists obtained in the regional elections "does not simply signifiy the renewal of an administrative assembly". He ruled out that there could be a return to the days of armed Corsican terrorism.