French police shot dead a man near a police station in northern Paris on Thursday, the first anniversary of the deadly Charlie Hebdo attacks that hit the city. The incident took place just after the speech made by French president Francois Holland.

The man was carrying a meat cleaver and appeared to be wearing a suicide vest, the interior ministry said. He also shouted “Allahu Akbar” .

However, police sources later reported that the vest was fake.

A separate source added that piece of paper found on the man's body "vows allegiance" to IS and said that he was avenging French "attacks in Syria". "He was found to be in possession of a mobile phone and a piece of paper on which the flag of Daesh was printed, as well as an unequivocal claim handwritten in Arabic," the prosecutor said in a statement.

During the whole week, the French citizens were commemorating people dead in the series of attacks initiated on November 7th, 2015.