French police on Friday said they had arrested 66 people at a farmers' protest on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris that blocked traffic during the morning rush hour.

Using tractors and bales of hay, farmers briefly brought traffic to a halt on the famed avenue near the Arc de Triomphe monument, only a short distance from President Emmanuel Macron's office.

The protesters, who held up banners on the avenue, said their action was aimed at saving French agriculture.

Farmers across Europe have been protesting for weeks over what they said are excessively restrictive environmental rules, competition from cheap imports from outside the European Union and low incomes.

Reporters at the scene said Some of the protesters handed out bags of potatoes to motorists stuck in crawling traffic around the Arc de Triomphe.

French farmers have continued to block roads, set fire to tyres and lay siege to supermarkets, saying they need more measures, even after the government promised reforms.