French interior minister heading for Corsica for talks after violent protests

France'sInteriorMinisterGerald Darmanin said on Monday that he would travel toCorsicalater this week and holdtalkswith local elected officialsafterviolentprotestserupted on the weekend, a few weeks before the presidential election.

Calm must be restored immediately, theministersaid in a statement.

Darmanin will head toCorsicaon Wednesday and Thursday.

Protesters in the northernCorsican town of Bastia attacked public buildings and threw projectiles at police on Sunday in the latest demonstration over an attack on a jailed nationalist at a mainlandFrenchprison.

Colonna, aCorsican shepherd, is serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of Claude Erignac, who as prefect ofCorsicaembodied the power of theFrenchstate on an island with a history of separatist violence.

The attack left theCorsican militant in a coma and led to renewed calls for nationalist prisoners to be transferred from theFrenchmainland to the island, closer to their families.

Authorities have long rejected these demands, saying nationalist prisoners were special status prisoners.

In a bid to ease tensions, PrimeMinisterJean Castex last week removed this status for Colonna and two other detainees, members of the so-called "Erignac commando". But the move was seen as too little too late by Colonna’s supporters inCorsica.

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Frenchprosecutors have also launched a terrorism investigation as Colonna's attacker was serving a nine-year sentence for planning terrorist attacks.