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

Chinese nationals had been involved in a clash with French police as they went to the local police department to submit a petition over the killing of Liu Shaoyao, a Chinese national who was shot dead at his home by plainclothes police on Sunday evening, the ministry confirmed.

The Chinese embassy in France was instructed to immediately lodge representations to French authorities over the killing. The ministry also requested French authorities to find out the exact details as soon as possible, ministry's spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

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

According to Xinhua, some French media reports described the killing of the man as a "legitimate defense" against "an assailant with scissors", while Chinese media reports, quoting a daughter of the man, said the 160-cm-tall father of five children, did not pose a threat or attack the policeman.

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