A 69-year-old suspect in yesterday's fatal shootings of three people in Paris has been taken from police custody to a police psychiatric unit, the French prosecutor said.
"The doctor who examined the suspect today in the late afternoon said that the state of health of the person concerned was not compatible with the measure of custody," the Paris prosecutor said.
"The custody measure has therefore been lifted pending his presentation before an investigating judge when his state of health allows," it said, adding that investigations were continuing.
It is understood that the man had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.
Investigators had added a suspected racial motive to initial accusations of murder and violence with weapons, the prosecutor's office said.
A gunman carried out the killings at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby café on in a busy part of Paris' 10th district, stunning a community preparing to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the unresolved murder of three activists.
President Emmanuel Macron said France's Kurdish community had been the target of a heinous attack, while Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the suspected assailant had clearly wanted to target foreigners.
Earlier this afternoon, clashes broke out for a second day in Paris between police and members of the Kurdish community due to anger at the killing of three members of the Kurdish community.
Cars were overturned, at least one vehicle was burned and small fires set alight near Republic Square, the traditional venue for demonstrations in the city where Kurds earlier held a peaceful protest.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said there had been a sudden violent turn in the protest but it was not yet clear why.
Speaking on news channel BFM TV, Mr Nunez said a few dozen demonstrators were responsible for the violence, adding there had been 11 arrests and around 30 minor injuries.
The clashes broke out as some demonstrators left the square, throwing projectiles at police who responded with tear gas. Skirmishes continued for around two hours before the protesters dispersed.
After an angry crowd clashed with police yesterday afternoon, the Kurdish democratic council in France organised a gathering at Republic Square.
Hundreds of Kurdish protesters, joined by politicians including the mayor of Paris' 10th district, waved flags and listened to tributes to the victims.
"We are not being protected at all. In ten years, six Kurdish activists have been killed in the heart of Paris in broad daylight," Berivan Firat, a spokesperson for the group, told BFM TV at the demonstration.
She said the event turned violent after some protesters were provoked by people in a passing vehicle who displayed a Turkish flag and made a nationalistic gesture.
The murders came ahead of the anniversary of the killings of three Kurdish women in Paris in January 2013.
An investigation was dropped after the main suspect died shortly before coming to trial, before being re-opened in 2019.
Kurdish representatives, who met with Paris' police chief today as well as French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, reiterated their call for the shooting to be considered a terror attack.
