Opinion polls consistently show that only a tiny minority of Corsicans want independence from France.

ECONOMIST: A referendum in Corsica

This irked Corsicans, for whom language is still a potent emblem of identity.

ECONOMIST: Corsica

Naturally, those Corsicans who had enjoyed disregarding their tax returns or fiddling their farming subsidies were rather cross about Mr Bonnet's attitude.

ECONOMIST: Corsica: Indignant | The

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who recently visited the island, has promised Corsicans that "the fight for the security is carried out with the greatest resolve".

BBC: Man killed and homes bombed in fresh Corsica violence

Even so, mindful of the money pumped into the island each year by the French government, only a tenth or so of Corsicans today want outright independence.

ECONOMIST: Corsica

As Corsicans considered proposals made by Lionel Jospin, the French prime minister, to devolve power to the island, two moderate Corsican nationalists were shot dead in broad daylight.

ECONOMIST: Bomb terror

French and Corsicans often seem trapped by their mutual disdain.

ECONOMIST: Corsica