France urged to guarantee safety of Chinese

Demonstrators from the Asian community face police officers outside Paris' 19th district police station on Tuesday. [Photo by Michel Euler/AP]

The Foreign Ministry held an urgent meeting with officials of the French embassy in Beijing on Tuesday over the death of a Chinese man in Paris, and called for Chinese people in France who express their demands to do so in a reasonable and legal manner.

Some Chinese clashed with French police as they went to a police station to petition over the killing of the man, who was shot dead at his home by plainclothes police on Sunday evening, the ministry confirmed.

The ministry instructed the Chinese embassy in France to request that French authorities conclude an investigation as soon as possible, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

It also asked France to take effective measures to guarantee the safety and legal interests of Chinese there, and "reasonably treat" their reaction over the man's death, Hua said.

French police used batons and tear gas to disperse about 100 people from the local Chinese community who staged a protest on Monday against the killing of the man.

At least one man of Chinese descent was injured, according to witnesses, as police officers intervened to disperse protesters outside a police station in Paris.

Some French media reports described the killing of the man on Sunday as a "legitimate defense" against "an assailant with scissors". However, local Chinese media reports, quoting a daughter of the man, reported the father of five did not attack police.

Hua said the Foreign Ministry will work with the Chinese embassy in France to closely follow the case's development and safeguard the security and legal interests of Chinese citizens and organizations in France.

French police arrested 35 people after the demonstration on Monday turned violent, Agence France-Presse reported. Three officers were slightly injured in the clashes, and one police vehicle was damaged by an incendiary device, it said. Xinhua contributed to this story.