French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19, the presidential Elysee Palace announced on Thursday.

Dozens of rallies are taking place against the controversial bill, which was approved by the lower house of Parliament this week but still awaits a green light from the Senate.

The prime minister's comments come in response to multiple incidences of violence in France amid growing anger over published caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.

Quebec Premier François Legault says France's president has thanked him for his support of free speech.

Blanchet said Monday that Justin Trudeau's response to attacks in France that authorities have attributed to Muslim extremists does not go far enough.

The demonstrations, which followed anti-France protests across the Muslim world last week, came after President Macron's interview late Saturday in which he said that he understood the shock Muslims felt at caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

In a tweet Monday afternoon, Foreign Affairs minister François-Philippe Champagne said that Canada stood "in solidarity with our French friends."

The indictment also accuses the defendants of destructive attacks on Ukraine's power grid and in a hack-and-leak effort directed at the political party of French President Emmanuel Macron during the 2017 election.

The virus was spreading at parties and private gatherings, the president said, and action was needed now in Paris and eight other big French cities to slow the rate of infection or else hospitals risked being overwhelmed.

Macron promised pro-independence supporters "this is with you, all together, that we will build New Caledonia tomorrow."