Groups of young people clashed with police in the western French city of Nantes late Tuesday after a 22-year-old man was shot dead by an officer during a police check, reports FRANCE 24.
Cars were burned and a shopping centre partly set alight in the Breil neighbourhood as police confronted young people, some armed with Molotov cocktails.
The circumstances in which the man was killed are being investigated by the police.
The incident occurred around 8:30pm (18:30 GMT) when police stopped a vehicle over an infraction, local police chief Jean-Christophe Bertrand said.
The identity of the driver was "not clear and officers received orders to bring the driver to the police station." The driver then hit and slightly injured a police officer, he added.
"One of his colleagues then fired, hitting the young man who unfortunately died," he said.
Police sources confirmed the young man was wounded during a police check while in a vehicle after he "refused to comply" with police requests.