French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Corsica for a two-day visit days after thousands of local nationalists staged a rally demanding greater autonomy, Sputnik News reports.
"Corsica, a proud and dignified land, has been sullied by this crime," Macron said. "What took place here on February 6, 1998 can't be justified, can't be pleaded, can't be explained. A man was killed because he served the Republic."
Moreover, President Macron has presented his own "vision of Corsica" during the speech, emphasizing that the island is part of the "unwavering France," and promised to try give it "the future it aspires to, without giving into demands that would take it out of the Republican fold."