Tour de France: Police fire at car in Paris square ahead of race

Police in France are searching for the driver of a vehicle that tried to crash through a security barrier for the Tour de France, which ends in Paris later.

The incident took place on the Champs-Elysees at about 08:00 local time, as the barriers were being put out.

Officers opened fire on the car but the suspect drove away. The car was later found abandoned nearby.

There is no suggestion of terrorism as a motive, according to the BBC's Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield.

He says the car first hit a parked vehicle in the Place de la Concorde.

The driver then tried to pass through a police cordon that was being put in place ahead of the final stage of the tour.

There was no exchange of fire and our correspondent suggests the driver could have been a reveller returning from a night out.

Two men and two women were reported to have been seen leaving the bullet-riddled car.

Tour de France race director Thierry Gouvenou said he did not foresee any impact on the race, which British cyclist Chris Froome is set to win.

Security in the French capital was heightened in the wake of the jihadist attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and elsewhere which killed 17 people.