Police used water cannons to break up a crowd of about 300 to 400 Turkish youths gathered in a confrontation with about 50 Kurds protesting in the street where the fire occurred, police spokesman Roland Thiebault said.

"After three charges with the cannons, the most angry ones went away and the situation calmed down," he said, adding that five ethnic Turks were arrested.

It was not known who started the fire that sparked the tensions, but ethnic Turks set fire in the past to another nearby Kurdish cultural centre.