Controversial artist sets fire to Paris bank building

A controversial performance artist has been held by police in France after setting fire to the front of the country's national bank.

Video taken in Paris on Monday shows Russian Pyotr Pavlensky in front the Banque de France building after torching the window gates.

Police promptly seized the artist as he stood in front of the flaming bank building.

Pavlensky is reputed for his macabre and politically-charged acts which have included nailing his scrotum to the cobblestones of Moscow's Red Square in 2013.

He said that act represented Russian political apathy.

Two years later he was jailed in Russia for setting fire to the doors of the headquarters of the country's feared federal security agency.

Earlier this year Pavlensky said he has received political asylum in France.

He sought asylum in January after he was accused of rape in Russia. He denies the accusations.