Posted on 08/15/2016 3:18:38 PM PDT by quesney
Corsicans rallied on Sunday as tensions remained high on the French Mediterranean island after five people were injured and three cars burned in clashes between young locals and families of North African origin.
Around 500 people gathered in the French Mediterranean island's capital Bastia a day after the clashes in Sisco, on the north of the island.
The dispute erupted between members of "three families of North African origin and young locals", prosecutors said in a statement, adding that stones and bottles were thrown and three cars went up in flames before police managed to restore calm.
A girl who witnessed Saturday's clashes, speaking to Sunday's rally through a megaphone, said they began after tourists took photos of several women bathing in burqinis. According to the girl, whose account however could not be verified, a group of immigrant origin youths shouted insults, before several older men arrived, carrying hatchets, in support of the families on the beach.
They attacked a group of young Corsicans aged 15 to 18 on the beach, whose role in the incidents was not immediately clear. The girl said the young Corsicans' families then took to the streets and clashed with the North Africans. Two of the locals were injured by a harpoon, she said.
North African women slashed several car tyres, while locals set fire to two cars and overturned another that belonged to immigrant families. The clashes injured five people, all of whom were discharged from hospital by late Sunday, prosecutors said, adding that no arrests were made.
On Sunday demonstrators held talks at the local government office late in the morning. Afterwards, in tense scenes, the crowd called to be allowed to head up to the Lupino district of Bastia, which has a large North African community.
"We're going up there because this is our home," they said. Police blocked them from entering the area. Up to 100 members of the security forces were deployed to restore calm, police said.
The clashes come amid heightened tension in France after a string of attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, including the July 14th massacre in the southern city of Nice when a Tunisian ploughed a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 85 people.
In Corsica last December, angry protesters vandalized a Muslim prayer hall and trashed copies of the Koran after an assault on firefighters that was blamed on local youths of Arab origin. The nearby French Riviera resort of Cannes has also sparked controversy by declaring a ban on burqinis - a ruling which won a court backing at the weekend.
Islamic dress has long been a hot-button issue in secular France, where the full-face veil is banned in public places.
Last month Corsican lawmakers called on the French state to close down radical mosques on the island, hours after an underground separatist movement issued a threat against Islamic extremists.
A splinter group of the nationalist Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) warned Islamists that any attack on the island would trigger "a determined response, without any qualms".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36912541
The FLNC message - issued by a faction called 22 October - called on Muslim leaders in Corsica to "take a stand against radical Islam" and "alert us to any excesses you notice among disillusioned youths inclined towards extremism".
Addressing jihadists, the FLNC said "your medieval philosophy doesn't scare us". It added: "You should know that any attack against our people would trigger a determined response, without any qualms... The Salafists clearly want to establish the Daesh (IS) policy among us, and we're prepared for that."
Corsicans don’t look like the kind of Europeans who can be pushed around.
Is Europe finally waking up?
They know the meaning of “militia” that has atrophied here.
In the US, the concept of the “militia” has been denigrated and labeled “vigilantism.”
Who wouldn’t support gun control on vigilantes? All part of the word-games.
At least these ones seem to be coming around to reality.
That’s one of those places that has a deep sense of history.
They are always looking for a fight. The Gates of Vienna has two videos of what went down. The second video has a North African being put into an ambulance and. Corsican giving him a fist to the head.
Even a worm when trod upon may turn.
Muzzis may have finally run up on some Europeans that haven’t been castrated.
Let the fight for European Restoration begin in Corsica!
I love Corsica. Perhaps this could be the new battle cry...
It’s about time somebody in Europe started fighting back.
There is a religious war that has been going on for 1400 years.
Islam has been at war with the rest of the human race since 622 A.D.
Oh Oh!
The Corsicans can be worse than Sicilians if you try to push them around.
Yes they can and they are up front about it.
“There is a religious war coming. Islam vs. Everybody Else, including atheists and agnostics.”
But the left, our number one enemy, will still be taking their side.
The left will still be apologizing for Islam as their heads are being cut off.
The Corsicans,Sardinians and Sicilians will take care of their islands its the French and Italian mainlands that worries me.
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