DR Congo's justice minister was arrested on Saturday, the latest twist in a crisis over proposed judicial reforms that have triggered violent street protests.

The action against Celestin Tunda Ya Kasende came a day after he clashed with President Felix Tshisekedi over the contested legal changes, according to a ministerial source.

The reforms, proposed by supporters of the still influential former president Joseph Kabila, has caused a damaging rift in the fragile government coalition.

The FCC sits in an uneasy coalition with Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and it accounts for most of the 66 government ministers as well as the prime minister.

Former parliament speaker Aubin Minaku, one of the people behind the proposed amendments, said this week that aim of the reforms was "to define the authority the justice ministry exercises over the judges".