2 prison guards attacked in Corsica jail, 4 inmates arrested

PARIS (AP) - Two prison guards were attacked Friday by four inmates on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica as prison guards across the country protested working conditions, the Penitentiary Administration said.

The guards were hospitalized in serious condition and the four inmates, including one suspected of becoming radicalized, were arrested after gendarmes moved in to secure the prison, a penitentiary official said.

The attack at Borgo prison in northern Corsica was the latest by inmates on guards during the massive labor protests this week. Guards at 80 of France's 188 prisons were taking part on Friday in blockages - ranging from work slowdowns to protests, according to the official. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

At least one "sharp-pointed" weapon was used in the Borgo attack, he said.

French prison guards have been demanding more security, more staff and safer handling of violent inmates.

The national union protest was launched after an Islamic radical wanted by the United States attacked three guards with a knife at a high-security prison in northern France last week.

Authorities say that attack at Vendin-le-Vieil was carried out by inmate Christian Ganczarski, a German who converted to Islam and was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in a 2002 attack on a synagogue in Tunisia that left 21 people dead.

Ganczarski, 51, is also suspected by the United States of providing critical support to Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks. He was charged Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court with conspiring to kill Americans and supporting terrorists.

In France, Ganczarski was given new preliminary charges of attempted murder following the knife attack. He was also transferred to another prison in northern France, according to Guillaume Pottier, a prison union leader.

The French Prison Administration official said aggressive actions against guards by inmates are not uncommon, with 4,000 last year. It insisted that recent aggressions this week are not linked to the guards' protests.

In response to the wave of prison guard protests, President Emmanuel Macron on Monday ordered the government to come up with a "global penitentiary plan" by the end of February that would modernize French facilities and prison intelligence-gathering. He also suggested a "massive" shift to alternative punishment such as obligatory public service or electronic bracelets.