Corsican nationalists have returned to arson and bombings as methods of fighting against the French authorities, Le Parisien reports. The newspaper reports that a new underground youth organization has recently emerged on the island, causing concern to the government. According to Le Parisien, the number of terrorist attacks on the island has risen sharply.
The Corsican nationalists have returned to their long forgotten practice of setting fires and bombing, Le Parisien says. According to the newspaper, it all started in the night of 25-26 March when two villas under construction were blown up in two different parts of the island and the door of the town hall in Appietto was set on fire. In each case the GCC inscription was found on the facades. This acronym stands for Ghjuventu Clandestina Corsa, which translates as “Corsican youth underground”. According to the newspaper, these three letters have for some months now been frequently appearing on the walls of Corsican homes, alongside the familiar slogans Statu francese assassinu (French state of assassins) or Gloria a te Yvan (Glory to you, Ivan) in honour of the nationalist Ivan Colonna, who staged an attack against the Corsican prefect in 1998 and was killed in prison in 2022.
It was Colonna’s death that “awakened a small, very radical minority that is part of the legacy of the Corsican insurgency and aggression”, the police officer stresses. After the murder of the Corsican nationalist, violent protests erupted on the island and turned into riots. However, the time for demonstrations has passed, giving way to other methods of struggle, according to the newspaper. Since last March, the gendarmerie has registered 87 arson and explosions of criminal origin on the island. The phenomenon is gaining momentum: at least 15 explosions or fires occurred in March 2023. In the night between 4 and 5 April, a restaurant in Pianottoli Caldarello was set on fire – a GCC tag was found nearby. Last Wednesday, a gas cylinder connected to an explosive device was found in front of a house under construction in Tavera. “The terrorist attacks are back,” one island insider is confident.
According to a newspaper source in the judiciary, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution Service has launched about 30 investigations since the beginning of the year into terrorist attacks or plans for terrorist attacks in 2022 or 2023. Cases have been brought against the historic Corsican National Liberation Front, which marked its return on 19 March by destroying three houses under construction in Villanova, as well as against the GCC.
The new movement officially announced its existence in a communiqué sent to the Corsican media last February. In it, the GCC claimed to be following “in the footsteps of the CFNC”, wanting to “confront the French state and its contempt”, and claimed responsibility for 17 terrorist attacks. Some of them are of particular concern to the authorities because, for the first time in a long time, town halls have been hit by radicals.
According to the newspaper, the GCC remains a mystery to investigators at the moment. The hooded terrorists are known to be young. The use of “fairly rudimentary explosive devices also suggests that they have little experience,” according to the newspaper’s judicial source. This lack of experience, paradoxically, makes the authorities fear a “loss of control and radicalisation” of the nationalists, the paper notes.
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