PARIS — France’s justice ministry says two prison guards have been injured in Corsica after an attack launched by three inmates, amid widespread protest over working conditions across the country.
A spokesman for the French penitentiary system said Friday that the violence occurred at the Borgo prison.
The two guards have been hospitalized but the spokesman said their injuries aren’t life-threatening, adding that he had no details about the attack or the assailants.
French prison guards have been protesting outside scores of jails across France in recent days, demanding more security, more staff and safer handling of violent inmates.
The national protest movement was launched by the country’s main prison worker unions after a radicalized inmate attacked three guards with a knife at a high-security prison in northern France last week.
Smoke rises as a fire set up by penitentiary staff outside the prison in Vendin le Vieil, northern France, Tuesday, Jan.16, 2018. Protesting French prison guards have pushed back against riot police and shouted down the justice minister amid demonstrations at several prisons over violent inmates and overcrowding. (Michel Spingler/Associated Press) Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.