Masked gunmen fired shots toward a police vehicle in the southern port city of Marseilles, French police officials said, hours before Prime Minister Manuel Valls was due to visit on Monday.

The men were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, said Pierre-Marie Bourniquel, regional director of public security. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Another police source told AFP that shots had been fired into the air.
It was not immediately clear if the shooting was related to Valls’ visit. He is on a two-day trip to Marseille to commend the recent drop in the city’s crime rates.
Elite police troops were being sent to the scene in the northern suburbs of Castellane after the shots were fired, Bourniquel told Reuters by telephone.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)