A food queue fight in an overcrowded German refugee center this week escalated into a mass brawl pitting 70 Pakistanis against 300 Albanians, fighting with fists, sticks and pepper spray.

By the time it ended, 14 people were injured, including three of the 50 police called in to contain the riot in a former airport building housing 1,500 asylum-seekers from 20 nations near the central city of Kassel.

Clashes at a refugee camp near the central German city of Kassel on Sunday left 14 people injured, the DPA news agency reported.

The clashes erupted in the suburbs of the city, at a camp made up of tents which house around 1,500 migrants hailing from around 20 different countries, and lasted "several hours", DPA quoted the police as saying.