Police in Marseille on Tuesday killed man suspected of stabbing five people in the city centre after he was evicted from a hotel for refusing to pay his bill. One of the victims is in a critical condition, police sources said.

French police on Tuesday killed a man suspected of stabbing five people in the southern port city of Marseille, one of whom is in critical condition, a public prosecutor said.

The assailant, a Tunisian national with legal status in France, stabbed several people at a hotel that had just evicted him for non-payment, then attacked several others on a busy shopping street, prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told reporters.

"It would appear that he blindly and gratuitously attempted to strike people," Bessone said.

The man first stabbed his roommate, leaving the victim in critical condition, the prosecutor said.

He then attacked the hotel's manager, who fled into the street along with his son, who was stabbed "in the back".

Both father and son are in "relative emergency" condition but "their lives are not believed to be in danger", Bessone said.

The man then continued what prosecutors called a "criminal rampage" on a crowded street, injuring at least two people in the face with a baton he carried along with two knives.

A police patrol in the area intervened and ordered him to drop his weapons, but when he refused they "neutralised" him, the prosecutor said.

The man died despite efforts to resuscitate him.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into attempted murder and attempted murder of police officer.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau is to travel to Marseille on Tuesday evening, with a visit to the city's police headquarters planned, his office said.

A resident who saw the incident told AFP the suspect tried to stab officers as they attempted to arrest him.

Another eyewitness told AFP the man was holding "two large butcher knives".

Police cordoned off the area and put up a forensic tent in front of a fast-food restaurant.