An investigation has been opened for damage to property by dangerous means. Tags from a group that has already claimed responsibility for attacks on homes were found at the scene.
A villa belonging to an elected official and located on the route des Sanguinaires in Ajaccio (Corse du Sud), an uninhabited villa at the time of the events, was heavily damaged by a probably arson fire during the night from Sunday to Monday, said the public prosecutor’s office. ‘Ajaccio.
An investigation was opened for damage to property by dangerous means and entrusted to the regional directorate of the judicial police. The national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office has also been notified. Asked by AFP, the prosecution said that the villa belonged to an Ajaccio family and in particular to an assistant to the mayor of Ajaccio.
If several witnesses report an explosion which would have preceded the fire, the prosecution stressed that this hypothesis still had to be confirmed by the technical and scientific police. The hypothesis of the explosion of a gas bottle affected by the flames is also not ruled out.
tags found
On site, tags GCC (Ghjuventù Clandestina Corsa, Clandestine Youth Corsica), a new group which has already claimed responsibility for several attacks on homes in recent months, and “Speculatori fora” (speculators outside) were found, leaving little doubt as to the criminal cause of the fire.
During a press briefing in the presence of part of his team, and in particular the targeted deputy, the mayor (DVD) of Ajaccio, Stéphane Sbraggia, denounced “a cowardly act”.
This attack “returns our society to a very obscure, very fragile situation with a very strong feeling of insecurity”, he estimated.
For his part, the autonomist president of the executive council of Corsica, Gilles Simeoni, denounced on social networks “the attack against the family property of an elected Ajaccienne”, which he considered “incomprehensible, unjustifiable and worrying”: “We must collectively say No to the logic of chaos,” he wrote.
The “return of political violence”?
The right-wing group in the Assembly of Corsica, Un Soffiu Novu, said it was “particularly worried about the turn taken by the return of political violence”.
“Corsica has no future in this way. Attempts at intimidation, destruction of property, the use of force will only lead us to an impasse”, judged the group in a press release .
Finally, Senator LR from Corse-du-Sud, Jean-Jacques Panunzi, whose elected official is the alternate, expressed his “disgust”. “How can we claim to advance Corsica by acting by force and violence”, he questioned, believing that “this new attack seriously jeopardizes the Beauvau discussions which are nevertheless an opportunity to advance Corsica on structuring files. The irresponsibility of those who commit these abuses threatens the whole of Corsica”.
President Emmanuel Macron appeared at these discussions in February, reaffirming that he had “no taboo” concerning the institutional future of Corsica, including autonomy, nor a “predetermined solution”. He also reiterated his two “red lines”: the maintenance of “Corsica in the Republic” and “the refusal to create two categories of citizens”.
