"We must be uncompromising on the fundamentals," President Emmanuel Macron told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, reports FRANCE 24.
"There is no such thing as 'legitimate' violence, whether it be verbal or [physically] targeting people."
"We must work tirelessly to counteract this process of décivilisation," he said in comments first reported by the daily "Le Parisien" and confirmed to AFP by a person present.
While violent crime remains relatively rare in France, a particularly violent week prompted Macron to cancel a trip to the south of France to take part in a memorial for three policemen killed in a car crash Sunday when a man under the influence drove the wrong way.
During a tribute to the police officers on Thursday in Roubaix, Macron called for respecting those who "risk their lives" for others, denouncing "irresponsible behavior that kills".
"At the sight of your three coffins, one can only be stunned in the face of the injustice and the absurdity," he said. The president was accompanied by First Lady Brigitte Macron and interior minister Gérald Darmanin.
Three men were killed in a shooting in Marseille over the weekend while a nurse died after a knife attack on Monday by a man suffering from psychiatric problems in the eastern city of Reims.
But the revelation that Macron used the word "décivilisation" immediately drew criticism that he was adopting rhetoric beloved by the far right and those who subscribe to the xenophobic "great replacement" theory.