Police shot a man dead Thursday as he was trying to enter a police station in a northern district of Paris that is home to a large immigrant community, on the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

A witness told AFP he had heard "two or three shots" in the incident that occurred a year to the day of the jihadist attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

The French government in a statement said the man attempting attack on Paris police station cried 'Allahu Akbar".