France may offer Corsica ‘autonomy’ as it struggles to quell protests

Interior minister says government, faced with major crisis before April presidential election, open to talks

Paris could offer autonomy" to Corsica, the French government has said, suggesting the state might be willing to loosen its historic, centralised grip on the Mediterranean island as it struggles to calm violent protests.

We are ready to go as far as autonomy - there you go, the word has been said," the interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, told the regional newspaper Corse Matin before a two-day visit, that comes after two weeks of rioting in which 100 people were injured and public buildings and police were attacked with homemade explosive devices.