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.

Reuters