Could the Corsica revolts spread all over France?

The Colonnas in Corsica are a bit like the Smiths in Britain. We are numerous. But in smart Parisian circles, the mention of this name sends a chill through the room. Yvan Colonna, a member of my extended clan (though not a known relative), was the most notorious Corsican nationalist of his time. He was convicted of the 1998 killing of a Préfét of Corsica, the highest republican official on the island. Last month, Yvan was himself murdered in a mainland French prison. 

He was attacked by a fellow prisoner, an Islamist who had been arrested and brought over from Afghanistan. It was an especially gruesome affair. Colonna was beaten and then strangled for eight minutes. The ‘Shepherd of Cargèse’ – from the small seaside town north of Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital and the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte – spent two weeks in a coma before eventually dying. Corsica has been in a state of disorder ever since.