"150 arrests. Support for the policemen, gendarmes and firefighters who bravely went into action. Shame on those who did not call for calm," he said.
The unrest began on Tuesday evening after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy in the Paris suburb Nanterre during a traffic stop. A motorbike patrol had stopped the youth at the wheel of a car.
A witness' mobile phone video of the incident, verified by the France Info channel, shows an officer pointing his gun into the driver's door of the stationary car. When the youth at the wheel suddenly drives off, the officer fires at close range, fatally wounding him.
Unrest spread to the Greater Paris region and several other French cities. Rioters set fire to vehicles and garbage cans during the night. Police officers and buildings were attacked with fireworks.