KEY POINTS
- French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspected assailant had clearly wanted to target foreigners.
- All three of the deceased victims were Kurdish, a lawyer for the Kurdish cultural centre said.
- Authorities said they had arrested a 69-year-old man, who had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial.
A gunman has shot dead three people at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby Kurdish cafe in central Paris, prompting scores of protesters to take to nearby streets.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspected assailant had clearly wanted to target foreigners, but there was no evidence yet that he had picked out Kurds specifically.
A man gets help as protesters and French police officers clash after a shooting incident near a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris, France, on 23 December 2022. Source: AAP / EPA
All three of the deceased victims were Kurdish, a lawyer for the Kurdish cultural centre said.
French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the "odious attack". "The Kurds in France have been the target of an odious attack in the heart of Paris," he wrote on Twitter.
"Thoughts for the people who are fighting for their lives, their families and their loved ones. Thanks to the security forces for their courage and sang-froid."
As evening fell, riot police fired teargas to push back an angry crowd a short distance from the scene of the shootings as projectiles were thrown at officers, rubbish bins and restaurant tables were overturned, and at least one car was damaged.
Authorities said they had arrested a 69-year-old man, who Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.
Juan-Golan Eliberg, an artist who works at the Kurdish centre, told Reuters the shooter had targeted Kurds.
Eyewitness Mehmet Dilek told Reuters he first heard gunshots and then cries coming from inside a barber's shop opposite the cultural centre.
Bystanders subdued the gunman when he had to reload his firearm, Mr Dilek added.
Riots break out at the site where several shots were fired in Paris on 23 December 2022. Source: AAP / ABACA
The shootings were a "terrible drama", district mayor Alexandra Cordebard told reporters.
One of those wounded had suffered life-threatening injuries, she said.
Kurdish leaders called for better protection for their community, a theme for Kurds in France since the high-profile killings of three Kurdish women a decade ago.
A member of the Kurdish community kneels on the ground as he is detained during clashes stands with police officers near the crime scene where a shooting took place in Paris on Friday, 23 December 2022. Source: AAP / AP
Reuters was not immediately able to contact the suspect's representatives. BFM TV reported the suspect was a French national.
Images broadcast on French news networks on Friday showed a white man wearing a grey top and scruffy white trainers being led away from the scene, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Several hours later, armed police were still guarding a security cordon as investigators combed the scene.
An investigation has been opened into murder, manslaughter and aggravated violence.
Salih Azad, a prominent figure from the Kurdish community in Marseille, said he knew one of the victims, a 26-year-old woman who had lived in Paris for several years.
"She was well integrated socially and culturally," he said.
