Corsica: the administrative court occupied by nationalist activists

About twenty nationalist militants invaded the court administrative office of Bastia, Wednesday March 15. They wanted to protest against a decision prohibiting the use of Corsican in the Assembly of the island, we learned from the court. “These people broke into the garden of the court and then into the premises of the court”reported a representative of the administrative court, confirming information from Corse-Matin. The claim of the demonstrators, “Corsican language, living language” (either “Corsican language, living language”), was displayed in black marker on a banner hung on the building’s exterior grille.

The youth movement Ghjuventu indipendentista (Independence Youth) 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, “Corsican language, our language” (“Corsican language, our language”). In this statement, which shows the logos of six nationalist youth movements, they denounce the decision of the administrative court, rendered Thursday, 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.”