Among five people arrested near Paris on Saturday, "there are three major leaders of the PKK in France" who had been tracked for months by anti-terrorism investigators, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told AFP.

The arrests and a related raid on a Kurdish cultural centre sparked angry protests which led to clashes with police in the southern suburbs of Paris on Saturday.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been waging a deadly fight for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. It is classed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community.

Brandet said the members of the France-based branch who were arrested on Saturday were held on suspicion of extorting money to fund terrorist activity.