Police said Monday they came under fire in an infamous housing estate in the French city of Marseille after residents said "Kalashnikovs" were being fired, though no victims were reported.
French police commandos take up positions during an operation at a housing estate in the southern city of Marseille, on February 9, 2015
The outbreak of violence in La Castellane, an estate known as a drug trafficking hotspot, came just hours before Prime Minister Manuel Valls was due to visit the southern port city to hail the progress made in fighting crime.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the violence at a time of high jitters following the Paris attacks last month, but Marseille is known for rampant gang-related gun crime that has even prompted calls for the army to be sent in to police the toughest neighbourhoods.
According to a source close to the case, residents in the housing estate -- where a 25-year-old was shot dead last month in a settling of scores -- alerted the police earlier Monday that "five to ten" hooded people had fired "Kalashnikovs" in the air.
There were no victims, the source added, and police rushed to the scene to deal with the situation.
On their arrival, they were shot at while still in their cars, said local public security director Pierre-Marie Bourniquel, who is running the operation.
Children who were in a creche in the estate were moved to a neighbouring school, according to the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
Security forces are still hunting for those who fired the Kalashnikovs, and riot police will deploy in the estate over the next few days, Bourniquel said.
- Easy availability of Kalashnikovs -
Police say much of the violence in Marseille is linked to turf wars between multiple rival gangs battling for control of the drugs trade in the city's poorest neighbourhoods.
The violence, they say, is made worse by the easy availability of high-calibre weapons, with Kalashnikov automatic rifles being the murder instrument of choice.
In 2013, Valls, who was then interior minister, had warned that entire neighbourhoods were "lost to the dealers."
Ironically, he was due to visit the city Monday afternoon to pay tribute to the "excellent" results of measures taken over more than two years to fight crime.
In an interview with regional daily La Provence, Valls said crime in the city had tumbled, pointing to a 30-percent drop in armed robberies over two years and a 20-percent fall in physical violence against people.
Marseille has been a Mediterranean trading hub since antiquity and has long had a reputation as a hotbed of crime.
In the 19th century, the level of registered offences was three times higher there than in any other French city and there have been regular outbursts of gang violence ever since.
Drugs-related crime is also not new, with the city's central role in the international heroin trade famously portrayed in the 1971 film "The French Connection".
That trade was controlled by powerful international syndicates and the heroin passing through Marseille was largely destined for other markets.
In contrast, the current violence is seen as the product of a free-for-all in the supply of marijuana and related soft drugs to the local market.