AJACCIO, France (Dispatches) -- A demonstration by thousands of supporters of murdered Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna turned violent amid fears the clashes with police could delay talks between the island’s political leaders and the French government.
The clashes involved more than 100 young people -- often hooded and wearing gas masks -- in front of the prefecture in the city of Ajaccio immediately after the arrival a procession of demonstrators, AFP witnessed.
Around 4,000 people took part, according to the prefecture, while organizers put the crowd at 14,000.
They included the Mediterranean island’s nationalist and pro-autonomy leaders following Colonna’s killing in a prison in southern France last month.
The murder has galvanized the nationalist movement and led President Emmanuel Macron’s government to offer talks about giving greater political autonomy to the territory.
Many shouted “Killer French State!” during Sunday’s demonstration, reflecting anger over how Colonna had not been protected in prison despite his repeated requests to serve out his jail term on his home island.
Colonna was convicted for assassinating a top French government official in 1998, the most shocking of a series of attacks by pro-independence militant group FLNC.
Two previous demonstrations for Colonna last month ended with violent clashes between police and young people, some of whom set fire to vehicles and damaged buildings.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin committed to starting talks about the future of Corsica from the first week of April, but no date has been set yet.
The development came months after massive protests in the French-administered Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe, leading Paris to offer the island’s leaders talks over their autonomy.
Guadeloupe and the nearby French island of Martinique had been the scene of protest rallies and violent clashes triggered by COVID-19 regulations but rooted in long-running concerns over the high cost of living, low wages, youth unemployment and mistrust of the Paris government.
Guadeloupe was colonized by France and is an overseas department of that nation and, therefore, as a part of France, it is a member of the European Union.
Throughout history and during centuries, France, as a self-described human rights advocate, has remained one of the world’s colonizing countries that after many years of slavery still controls nations spread over more than 12 territories and treats their people as second-class citizens.