The weekend violence in the suburb of Trappes erupted after a man was detained for allegedly attacking a police officer who had stopped his wife over her full-face veil, a practice that is banned in France, outraging many in the Muslim community.
"The law banning the full-face veil is a law for women... It is not for a second a law against Islam," Manuel Valls told RTL radio.
"It is a law against practices that have nothing to do with our traditions and our values, and the police did their work perfectly well."
The violence kicked off Friday evening, when some 400 people protested near the police station in Trappes, southwest of Paris.
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They set fire to bins, destroyed bus stops and hurled stones at police who responded with tear gas. A 14-year-old boy suffered a serious eye injury and several police officers were also hurt.
The unrest continued on Saturday night, albeit to a lesser degree, and by Sunday a tense calm had been restored.
Prosecutors say the husband of the woman who was stopped on Thursday allegedly attacked and tried to strangle the officer.
Wenceslas Ference said his client "wants it to be known that his wife has always accepted to show her face to police and cooperate during previous ID checks, of which there have been many."
The man, identified as Mickael, was released from custody on Saturday and is due to appear before a court in September.
France has banned women from wearing full-face veils in public since April 2011, and authorities say about 300 women were caught breaking the law in the first year it was in force.
A similar outbreak of unrest occurred last month when authorities stopped a 25-year-old woman who was wearing a full-face veil in Argenteuil, a suburb northwest of Paris.