Cornish National Liberation Army

The Cornish National Liberation Army (CNLA) was a short-lived Cornish nationalist paramilitary organisation that threatened to perform acts of vandalism and arson against commercial targets that it considered to be English, in Cornwall. The organisation has been described by the Cornish political party Mebyon Kernow as a 'pseudo-terrorist group'.[1]

History

The CNLA claimed to have been formed through the merge of An Gof and the Cornish Liberation Army.[1]

In 2007, an email claiming to be from the Cornish National Liberation Army threatened the restaurants of celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein in Cornwall, claiming they were hurting local people though driving up living costs. The following month a 36-year-old man was arrested for making the threats.[2]

The group also opposed the flying of the English flag in Cornwall, and has threatened to destroy all English flags in the region. It claimed to have been involved in arson attacks on English people's holiday homes in Wales.[1]

There is little evidence as to the size of the CNLA other than an August 2007 interview in Cornish World Magazine in which Stuart Ramsay claimed they had thirty members, with a similar number being reported in 2017.[3][4]

Cornish Republican Army

In 2017, the group announced a name change to the Cornish Republican Army (CRA), as the previous name had been used by other groups.[4]

The CRA claimed responsibility for a firebomb attack on Rick Stein's restaurant in Porthleven, along with other fire incidents in Truro and Penryn. They also claimed to have a suicide bomber ready to undergo an attack.[4] However, the Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the restaurant fire was "probably an electrical issue and not one of deliberate ignition".[5]

Comparisons to a fictional group in the 2015 film The Bad Education Movie have been made, in which Alfie Wickers and class K go to Cornwall but accidentally get involved with the Cornish Liberation Army, a terrorist organisation fighting for Cornish independence.[5]

References
  1. Morris, Steven (14 June 2007). "Cornish militants rise again – and this time they're targeting celebrity chefs". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  2. Sturcke, James (14 June 2007). "Man arrested over threats to celebrity chefs". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  3. "CNLA: the writing on the wall" in Cornish World Magazine, Issue 53 (August/September 2007) pp.50–53.
  4. "Militant Cornish nationalists claim to have suicide bomber ready". The Scotsman. 10 July 2017.
  5. Bullen, Jamie (10 July 2017). "'Terror' group's claims of arson at TV chef's restaurant dismissed by fire crews". The Mirror. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
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