French police say they have opened an inquiry after a Chinese man was shot dead by police at his Paris home, triggering riots in the French capital by members of the Chinese community, and a diplomatic protest by Beijing.

Key points: Conflicting accounts of events leading to man's shooting

Conflicting accounts of events leading to man's shooting Protesters gather for a second day

Protesters gather for a second day China summons French embassy representative

Protesters gathered on Tuesday in north-east Paris for a second day of demonstrations over the fatal shooting.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had summoned a representative of the French embassy in Beijing and urged French officials to, "get to the bottom of the incident as soon as possible".

"[Chinese authorities] hope that Chinese nationals in France can express their wishes and demands in a reasonable way," Ms Hua said.

Residents and police gave conflicting accounts of what happened before the man was shot dead by police on Sunday evening.

Protesters and riot police face-off outside a Paris police station. ( AP: Michel Euler )

Police said an officer fired in self-defence during a raid after the man injured an officer with a "bladed weapon".

Rumours circulated among Chinese immigrants that 56-year-old Shaoyo Liu was in front of his children while cutting up fish with scissors and had not hurt anyone.

Protesters outraged by the killing and baton-wielding police clashed for several hours on Monday night. Three police officers were injured and 35 protesters arrested, authorities said.

With chants of "murderers" and candles that spelled "opposition to violence" lining the road, scores of demonstrators broke down barricades, threw projectiles and set fire to cars.

Dozens detained in violent clashes

Loading...

Authorities said 26 demonstrators were held for participating in a group planning violence, six for throwing projectiles, and three others for violence against police that saw a police car damaged by arson.

Witnesses said one man of Chinese origin was injured in the clashes, according to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency.

France's Foreign Ministry responded on Tuesday by calling the security of Chinese in France "a priority".

The Ministry confirmed an inquiry had started to shed light on the circumstances of the shooting.

The move did not calm about 100 people from Paris's Asian community who gathered at the police station on Tuesday afternoon, including families and friends of people detained the night before.

"Justice must be done, the killer must be punished!" the protesters shouted.

A meeting of the Chinese community in Paris was planned to discuss possible further actions.

France is home to Europe's largest population of ethnic Chinese, a community that routinely accuses police of not doing enough to protect it from racism.

AP/Reuters