PARIS (REUTERS) - Police have evacuated the area around the Paris Eiffel tower and the surrounding Champ de Mars park, a Reuters witness saw on Saturday.

Heavy police presence was seen at the Pullman Hotel on Avenue de Suffren near the Eiffel tower, another eyewitness, who lives along Champ de Mars told Reuters. He declined to be identified.

Other witnesses also confirmed the presence of heavily armed police at the site of the hotel - although, an interior ministry spokesman later revealed this to be a false alert.

A spokesman for the Accor hotel chain also said it was a false bomb alert.

Authorities are seeking accomplices of the gunmen of Friday's wave of shootings around Paris.