Separatist Movements in France

National Liberation Front of Corsica

The National Liberation Front of Corsica (Corsican: Fronte di Liberazione Naziunale Corsu, or FLNC) is a militant group that advocates an independent state on the island of Corsica, separate from France. They also want all currently imprisoned members of the FLNC in France to be put into Corsican prisons. The organisation's presence is primarily in Corsica and less so on the French mainland. Conculta Naziunalista is often considered to be the political wing of the organisation.

Typical militant acts by the FLNC are bombings, aggravated assault, armed bank robbery and extortion through ‘revolutionary taxes’, and are mostly aimed at public buildings, banks, touristic infrastructure, military buildings and other symbols of French control. Usually the attack is against buildings and infrastructure and not against persons. The overwhelming majority of their attacks on the French mainland take place in or around the cities of Nice, Marseilles and Avignon.

The FLNC was created from a merger of Ghjustizia Paolina and the Fronte Paesanu Corsu di Liberazione, the two largest Corsican armed organizations. It is an off-shoot of the political party A Cuncolta Independentista which has members in the Corsican Assembly and some support with the Corsican people.

The FLNC carried out its first attacks on the night of 4 May 1976 with 21 bombs exploding in Ajaccio, Bastia, Sartene, Porto Vecchio and other towns. The majority of the targets were public buildings and the offices of estate agents. On 5 May the FLNC formally announced its existence when it issued a bilingual manifesto which also claimed responsibility for the previous night's attacks.

The manifesto contained six demands:

·         The recognition of the National Right of the Corsican people.

·         The removal of all instruments of French colonialism – including the French Army and the colonists.

·         The setting up of a popular democratic government which would express the will and the needs of the Corsican people.

·         The confiscation of colonial estates.

·         Agrarian reform to fulfill the aspirations of farmers, workers and intellectuals and rid the country of all forms of exploitation.

·         The right to self-determination of the Corsican people.

 Armed campaign

2000s – "Reunification of the Internal Factions"

The FLNC has continued its attacks into the twenty-first century, although at a much reduced tempo when compared with the late 70s. Many FLNC bombs failed to detonate or attacks had to be aborted. Nevertheless the FLNC did manage to carry out a number of successful attacks including the 2002 bombing of a military barracks in Lumio which injured a number of gendarmes, bomb attacks against a number of hotels in Marseille in 2004 and rocket attacks against a number of barracks in 2007.

In 2009 it carried out a car bomb attack against a barracks in Vescovato. The FLNC also claimed that all the different factions had reunified. During the early 2000s the FLNC had been divided into the FLNC-UC, the FLNC-1976, and the FLNC-October 22.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_for_the_Liberation_of_Corsica