Pro-Palestine protesters clashed with police in Paris last night ahead of a football match between France and Israel later today.

A large group engaged in an altercation with police in the French capital in which batons were drawn and tear gas used.

It comes as an "Israel is forever" event was being held in the city centre, with Israel's controversial finance minister Bezalel Smotrich due to attend.

Smotrich has come under fire after claiming Donald Trump's victory in the US election meant "the time has come" to annex the West Bank and that further extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region was the only way to remove the "threat" of a Palestinian state.

French authorities refused a request made by a pro-Palestinian organization, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, to cancel the event, which was described as "the mobilisation of Zionist French-speaking forces in the service of Israel's power and history."

Paris Police Prefect Laurent Nuñez said: "I will not ban this demonstration. I have no reason to do so. We're obviously going to protect this gala."

A counter protest made its way through the city and attempted to make its way towards the pro-Israeli demonstration when clashes were seen to have taken place.

Social media footage showed some protesters being apprehended although numbers of arrests have not yet been confirmed.

Tonight's Nations League match at the Stade de France comes at a fraught moment, with diplomatic relations between French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu strained by Israel's war in Gaza.

Police chiefs confirmed around 4,000 officers will secure the event, deployed in the stadium, outside the ground and on public transport.

More to come...