France's justice minister said on Tuesday gun and arson attacks on at least six prisons around the country were acts of terrorism directed at security officials charged with guarding some of the nation's most hardened crime kingpins.

France's Justice Minister said the government would not give in to "acts of intimidation" after a wave of attacks targeting prisons across the country. On Monday night, vehicles were set alight outside several French prisons and one jail was hit by gunfire, in what Gérald Darmanin described as "terrorist attacks".

Several French prisons were attacked overnight in response to government efforts to clamp down on drug trafficking, senior officials said on Tuesday, as authorities grapple with what they have called a “tsunami” of cocaine coming into the country.