The ‘shepherd of Cargèse’, as he was called, died last Monday after a brutal attack in the Arles prison, in the south of France
Four days after his death, Corsica dressed in mourning to say goodbye to Yvan Colonna, an icon of Corsican independence terrorism, who died last Monday after a brutal attack in the Arles prison, in the south of France.
Under a sea of Corsican flags, the inhabitants of the island took to the streets to say goodbye to one of their own. After a mass in the Latin Church of Cargèse, Colonna’s remains were transferred to the cemetery of this town of 1,300 inhabitants in the south of the island, where his family comes from.
The coffin, which was carried through the town on the shoulders of relatives and friends of the deceased, was covered with the white flag with a black head of Corsica. In Cargèse, a couple of ikurriñas were also waved, according to the images broadcast on television.
The ‘shepherd of Cargèse’, as he was called, was considered by many on the island to be a symbol of the Corsican people’s struggle for independence and recognition of their identity. Others in France considered him simply a murderer. Colonna was sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 murder of Corsican prefect Claude Érignac. The Corsican terrorist always claimed his innocence.
Colonna was attacked on March 2 in the prison gym by a jihadist named Franck Elong Abé, a Cameroonian who is also serving a sentence in that prison for acts of terrorism.
The Islamist justified the attack by saying that Colonna had “blasphemed” and “spoke ill of the prophet.” After the violent attack, Colonna spent three weeks in a coma. On Monday he died in a hospital in Marseille.
Colonna’s assault in prison triggered a wave of protests and riots on the island. “Murderer French state,” read some banners held up by protesters. The most violent day was March 13, in which 102 people were injured, including 77 police officers. After the news of Colonna’s death, the riots stopped and it was time to duel on the island.
Many French politicians saw inappropriate the decision of the Corsican authorities to lower the flags at half-staff in tribute to the murderer of Prefect Erignac. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin considered it “a kind of insult to the French state.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has been willing to discuss Corsica’s autonomy if calm returns to the island. Paris refuses, however, to speak of independence. The model to follow could be that of French Polynesia, which currently enjoys greater autonomy than the Corsican community.
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