FILE PHOTO: French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner looks on during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris, France April 7, 2020. Alain Jocard/Pool via REUTERS
PARIS (Reuters) – French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Thursday that he did not think that this week’s outbreak of violent clashes in French housing estates would result in scenes similar to the 2005 riots that broke out throughout the country.
“We are not in this sort of scenario,” Castaner told BFM TV.
Stringent restrictions on public movements ordered by President Emmanuel Macron to tackle the coronavirus have exacerbated tensions in the low-income neighbourhoods around the capital, with clashes having broken out this week.
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Toby Chopra