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French authorities have detained a Palestinian activist after a top court ordered her expulsion, the woman's lawyer said Thursday.

Mariam Abu Daqqa, a 72-year-old leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is now in "administrative detention", lawyer Julie Gonidec told AFP.

Abu Daqqa was detained by plainclothes police on Wednesday night after attending a cinema debate in Paris, her associates said.

Nous apprenons que Mariam Abu Daqqa, dont nous diffusions l'interview ce lundi, a été arrêtée violemment cette nuit pour être expulsée.

— Nos Révolutions (@nos_revolutions)

"Four or five of them set upon Mariam. They lifted her up like a sack of potatoes," said one supporter, Sarah Katz, who added that she was manhandled during the incident.

"They took her away by the wrists and feet and threw her into the back of a car," Katz added.

Earlier Wednesday, the State Council, France's highest administrative court, ordered that Abu Daqqa could be expelled.

It overturned a ruling by a lower court suspending an interior ministry expulsion order.

Abu Daqqa had a 50 day visa to visit France to take part in conferences on the Gaza war.

She took part in two conferences that had been banned.

Abu Daqqa also took part in a demonstration calling for the release from prison of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed for life in 1987 for the killing of US and Israeli diplomats.

Abdallah was also a PFLP member. The group is considered a "terrorist" organisation by the European Union.

Abu Daqqa, who is based in the Gaza Strip, had a ticket to fly to Egypt on Saturday, according to her lawyer, who said the expulsion order would again be contested.

About 50 people took part in a protest in support of Abu Daqqa on Thursday night near the Paris police headquarters.