French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday fighting racism should not lead to a "hateful" re-writing of history following worldwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a police officer in the United States.

Some protesters in the United States and elsewhere have targeted statues of historic figures associated with slavery or other past human rights abuses.

"I will be very clear tonight, compatriots: the Republic won't erase any name from its history. It will forget none of its artworks, it won't take down statues," he said in a televised address to the nation.