A rocket was fired at the offices of the top French representive in the Corsican city of Bastia in the early hours of Friday, causing limited damage, Reuters reported. It came two weeks after a rocket was fired at the Ajaccio prefecture amid protests over a government plan to privatise a loss-making ferry company linking Corsica to mainland France. Those protests stirred nationalist sentiment on the island where there is a history of political tension with the French government. Friday's attack also appeared to bear out fears expressed on Thursday by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy who paid a lightening visit to Corsica a day earlier. "Certain small groups of clandestine separatists could carry out even more irresponsible attacks," Sarkozy warned. SNCM ferry workers voted on Thursday to end a 24-day strike, pulling back only in the face of government threats to declare the firm bankrupt.
