France's Corsica rocked by blasts claimed by separatist group

The National Liberation Front of Corsica was set up in 1976 and has staged hundreds of attacks, but in 2014 said it planned to end its armed struggle AFP/File

A separatist group on Monday claimed a series of explosions in Corsica overnight, a new upsurge of violence after President Emmanuel Macron last month offered the French Mediterranean island a form of autonomy.

Around a dozen explosions were recorded across the island overnight on Sunday to Monday, mainly targeting second homes and building sites.

They did not cause any casualties or major damage, prosecutors said.

The blasts were claimed in a statement to the Corse-Matin newspaper by the separatist National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC), which demands independence from France rather than a form of autonomy.

"We have no common destiny with France. We claim the series of actions of the night of October 8-9, 2023," it said in the terse text, which ended with the phrase in Corsican language: "A Francia Fora" ("France Out").

Ajaccio prosecutor Nicolas Septe told reporters that the blasts and a subsequent fire had been caused by explosives, gas cylinders and nitrate, and in some cases a mix of these.

The explosions came after Macron visited Corsica on 28 September and told the regional parliament: "We should have the courage to establish a form of autonomy for Corsica within France."

But he warned the nationalist-controlled local legislature that this step would not happen "without" or "against" France.

French President Emmanuel Macron (L) shakes hands with Corsican Assembly president Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis before addressing a session of the Corsican Assembly in Ajaccio, on 28 September 2023. © AFP - PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA

Sporadic violence

Corsica shot to the top of the French political agenda last year when widespread violence broke out over the killing in a French mainland prison of key Corsican separatist figure Yvan Colonna.

Colonna – jailed for life over the 1998 murder of the region's prefect Claude Erignac – was stabbed to death by another inmate in what prosecutors termed an act of terror.

The FLNC first emerged in May 1976 but has since been plagued by internal struggles and split several times into different factions.

It announced in 2014 that it would lay down its weapons.

But this has not prevented sporadic violence on the island, which is a hugely popular tourist destination for the French.

Many mainlanders own rarely used second homes, to the ire of Corsican nationalists.

The last sequence of explosions of this kind – known as a "blue night" – dates back to the night of 9-10 March, 2019, when seven homes were damaged.

(with AFP)