Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin sought on Thursday to defuse a row over a law that encourages the positive portrayal of France's colonial past in schoolbooks, saying it was not for politicians to write history.
Villepin stepped into the dispute to try to avoid a new crisis for the conservative government, already shaken by three weeks of urban rioting widely blamed on France's failure to integrate ethnic minorities.
The opposition Socialists want parliament to repeal the 2004 law. Its wording has angered residents of the French West Indies, whose economy was founded in the 17th century on a lucrative slavery-based sugar trade.
The row forced Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a presidential hopeful and fiery speaker, to put off a trip to the islands on Wednesday after local residents announced plans to protest about the law.
About 1,000 people demonstrated in the French territory of Martinique on Thursday, chanting "No to the law of shame".
Villepin said Sarkozy, whose tough comments during last month's riots rankled some French West Indians, had been right to avoid stoking passions. But he did not announce any plans to repeal the law.
"The first rule is that it is not for politicians and not for parliament to write history," he told France Inter radio.
"That is not its role and so we have to learn the lessons in this case as with others. Let's not get dragged into re-writing history ... there is no official history in France."
He said it was the task of the schools inspectorate to set history courses and that teachers were free to teach the curriculum as they saw fit.
The newspaper Le Monde said pressure was mounting on the ruling Union for a Popular Movement and the government to come up with a new form of words in the controversial law.
The law is intended to recognise the contributions to France of North African soldiers. Its Article Four says school courses should "recognise in particular the positive role of the French presence overseas".
UMP deputies on November 29 rejected a Socialist bid to scrap the article, sparking protests in Martinique and Guadeloupe.