The Hague (AFP) - New tensions flared in the Netherlands Sunday over the sensitive issue of taking in migrants, only hours after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte sharply condemned a "cowardly" attack on a refugee shelter.

Police were forced to intervene in the central city of Utrecht on Sunday when hundreds joined a rally organised by the far-right German PEGIDA movement, short for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident".

Some 10 people were arrested after a smoke bomb was thrown and scuffles flared between PEGIDA supporters and those demonstrating against the group, Dutch media reported.

Tensions are rising in The Netherlands over the thousands of refugees due to be given shelter in the country under a European Union scheme.

Dutch police are also investigating a Friday night attack by men dressed in black and wearing balaclavas on a sports hall in the central city of Woerden where some 150 refugees, including 51 children, are temporarily housed.

No one was hurt in the incident, but police were on Sunday still questioning 11 men aged between 19 and 30 who allegedly tried to storm the building, attacking it with fireworks and pelting it with eggs.

New tensions in Netherlands over refugees