"I am calling for effective measures. I have ordered an analysis of effectiveness of a special state of emergency introduction next week. At the moment, the decision has not been taken… Currently, it does not seem to me that it will be useful to increase the number of troops… I feel that this is not necessary," Castaner said at a session of the upper house Legislation Committee.
Four people have died in the unrest that gripped France over two weeks ago after President Emmanuel Macron announced a rise in diesel prices next January.
The grassroots movement, known as yellow vests for wearing fluorescent jackets, has grew into an amalgamation of the right- and the left-wingers. Tensions flared last Saturday when violent protesters clashed with riot police and set tires on fire near the landmark Arc de Triumph in Paris. Over a hundred people were detained and 20 were injured.