Overview
- On October 10, the Bastia administrative court ordered Quasquara to remove or relocate a wooden cross installed in 2022 on public land or to privatize the parcel under the 1905 laïcité law.
- The cross remains in place and the municipality has 60 days to appeal, with the prefecture stating state services will accompany the commune’s efforts to keep the installation within the legal framework.
- Franceinfo confirmed the plaintiff is an approximately 80-year-old resident of two decades acting on laïcité grounds, debunking viral claims that she is a recently arrived Muslim or connected to a CNRS researcher.
- Mobilization has surged across Corsica with petitions reaching about 40,000–42,000 signatures and student protests, while nationalist groups and the far right embraced the case and announced an alliance in Quasquara on October 18.
- The plaintiff has received online attacks and threats, banners appeared near the cross, and the bishop of Ajaccio criticized political instrumentalization of the symbol.