Corsican nationalists expressed their anger on Wednesday in Bastia. About twenty activists invaded and occupied the city’s administrative court all day long to protest against a decision prohibiting the use of Corsican in the island’s Assembly.
“These people broke into the garden of the court and then into the premises of the jurisdiction,” said a representative of the administrative court on Wednesday morning, confirming initial information from Corse-Morning. Arrived around 8 a.m., the demonstrators left the scene “around 8:30 p.m.,” said the Haute-Corse prefecture after receiving a delegation.
Anger of young separatists
The demand of the demonstrators, “Lingua corsa, lingua viva” (Corsican language, living language), was posted in black marker on a banner hung on the exterior grid of the building. The youth movement Ghjuventu indipendentista (Independence Youth) for its part posted on its Instagram account a long press release in the Corsican language on this issue, accompanied by a photo of nine activists on the balcony of the administrative court on which they fixed another banner. , “Lingua corsa, lingua nostra”.
In this press release, which shows the logos of six nationalist youth movements, they denounce the decision of the administrative court, handed down on March 10, establishing that the use of the Corsican language in the debates at the Assembly of Corsica was contrary to the Constitution. “Once again, the State is trying to silence those who want to speak their language”, they write, before concluding: “We, Corsican youth, we will always be the guardians of our language”.
Gilles Simeoni protested against the court’s decision
According to the court’s decision, “Article 2 of the Constitution of October 4, 1958” provides “that the use of French is binding on legal persons governed by public law and persons governed by private law in the exercise of a mission of public service”. According to the court, “article 16 of the rules of procedure of the executive council of Corsica, as well as article 1 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly of Corsica”, by providing “that Corsican is among the languages of the debates”, “disregard the provisions of article 2 of the Constitution”.
The court thus validated the appeals filed on June 15, 2022 and January 27, 2023 by the prefect of Corsica to request the cancellation of the deliberations having validated the internal regulations of the two regional bodies. This decision had aroused strong opposition in the nationalist ranks. “Accepting this situation is unthinkable for us”, had thus regretted Friday in a joint press release the autonomist president of the executive council, Gilles Simeoni, and the autonomist president of the Assembly of Corsica, Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis, specifying to have appealed against this judgment.