The imprimatur of an Islamic cleric:

Officials said the rioters also torched shops and attacked a streetcar (tramway) line. Police said some rioters also shot at officers and that they returned fire.

The French newspaper Le Monde says the youths started their rampage after hearing a Muslim imam give a ceremony for an alleged robber, who died Thursday night after being chased by police and exchanging gunfire.(VOA)

UPDATE: The police were fired on by automatic gunfire, a fact that strangely was only reported on by al jazeera.

From Atlas reader the cat:

We are not too familiar with automatic gunfire in Europe this is a new reality for us. Youth's torched at least 50 cars and two shops

• France 2007: Punk Jihad
• France 2008, 2009: Punk Jihad

UPDATE: New video:

The punk jihad in France is back. The hudna is over. Hostilities resume. Thousands of burning cars redux? 

France: Riots over killing of Muslim man

Cars burned, police shot at after authorities kill hold-up suspect near Grenoble Y Net News

Rioters burned cars, attacked a tramway and shot at police in the French city of Grenoble overnight in protest at the death of a local Muslim man, identified as 27-year- old Karim Boudouda, fleeing police after allegedly holding up the city's casino.

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was to travel to the southeastern city on Saturday to monitor events, his office said.

The violence began around midnight on Friday and lasted through the night in the poor suburban neighborhood of Villeneuve, home to the alleged robber.

[...]

Police said they intervened after local residents stopped a tramway by setting a fire on the rails and stoned it. At least 50 cars were burned and police said they were shot at once and returned fire. No casualties were reported.

The trouble followed a hold-up in a casino in nearby Uriage-les-Bains by two armed men in the early hours of Friday.

Police choppers join chase

Police said the duo fled with 20,000-40,000 euros and were chased by police. Police said the suspects opened fire, wounding an officer, and one of the suspected robbers was killed in the ensuing shooting.

The second man fled into Villeneuve, where police helicopters flew overhead for much of the night in a fruitless attempt to locate him.

The riot in Grenoble recalled civil unrest that exploded across France in late 2005 after two teenagers from a rough Parisian suburb died as they were fleeing police.

My name is Boutek Allouf from Algeria. I am one of this immigrantes in France that refuse to accept the style and corrupted way of living of Western World. I like my culture, my religion, my way of seeing the world. Islam is right. Europe is wrong. They same way you invaded Africa, South America, Asia, now is your turn to have us inside you. That´s the price you have to pay. I hate your hipocrisy of saying that you live in a free society, but we´ll use this as a tool to reach our means. You can not stop the flux of History. We´ll retake what is ours with the help of God.

Boutek Allouf , Saint Denis France (07.17.10)

UPDATE: Jew Lover in the comment section points out:

It looks like the French government may have to update their official websites to include more than the following:

French in France can't go to 751 areas designated Muslim-Only areas

Note: The French are kind enough to list the areas, as well as provide detailed maps, of where non-muslims musn't go in France.

 

The EDL, the standard bearers of freedom in the UK, planned on another peaceful demonstration in Dudley today. They have come under fierce attack. Details are sketchy at the moment. Will update as news breaks. Do not look to the media for accurate reporting. They will report on this the way they report on the tea party: lies, distortions, slander.

The "Muslim Defense League" had planned to be there. According to EDL media, the EDL is being subjected to assaults by the police. Injuries have been caused and there is rioting in Dudley...gangs of Muslims are attacking people...THE MEDIA IS NOT REPORTING ANY OF THESE EVENTS...

An EDL coach driver has been attacked with a machete...will keep updating .. also please send me any information as you get it.

UPDATE: We have eyewitness accounts coming in of Muslims using cars to drive down English protesters in Dudley. There has been one report of an incident in which a car drove into four people, leaving them seriously injured and one woman dead. An air ambulance has landed to assist the injured. We are waiting for confirmation of this incident.

Six hurt as car hits pedestrians in Dudley BBC

Six pedestrians were injured, three seriously, when they were struck by a car in the West Midlands.

The ambulance service was called to the junction of King Street and Stafford Street, Dudley, at 1605 BST.

Three men, aged 42, 37 and 32 suffered head injuries. The 37-year-old also broke his leg.

Three others, including a girl aged 16 whose leg was broken, also needed hospital treatment.

An 18-year-old man suffered a foot injury and a 19-year-old man has a suspected broken leg, the West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

UPDATE: Sky news has reported damage to a Hindu Temple in Dudley.

Here, from the EDL, is an explanation of why they were holding a demonstration:

The Dudley super mosque still looms over the people of Dudley.

The council do not want it, the people of Dudley do not want it, the nation does not want it. They STILL try to force this mosque upon the people over-riding all accepted democratic processes.

The EDL will not leave the... people of Dudley to this fate. When we went there on April 3rd people came out of their houses to applaud us as we passed. People got out of their cars to give us the thumbs up. We have received hundreds of emails thanking us for our help in this matter.

We are proud to stand by the people of Dudley. We will not surrender.

UPFATE 4:43 pm: From Van

"The be all and end all of it is - as agreed by a number of people today - the Police simply didn`t want all the EDL who travelled in Dudley. 3 buses were laid on to ferry people to the demo. The buses went 2 miles or so to the demo point and never came back for the rest. Everyone started to walk, the police blocked everyone. After what seemed ages, most people had made their way to Castle hill and the police were there in force. Nobody was going to pass and they didn`t. Members were assaulted and sent on their way. Small groups were picked off by local Asians [UK speak for Muslims - Atlas]  - police confirmed this. I can`t comment what happened in the demo site as I never made it. But i did witness our coaches being stoned while police looked on, and a mob wandering around Dudley as if they owned the place - they then attacked police. Apologies if I have repeated myself - raging at the moment. "

Burqa Ban Debate in Montreuil Devolves Into Violence

Ni Putes Ni Soumises (NPNS – Neither Whores Nor Submissives), an international human rights organization that advocates on behalf of women’s rights as universal  human rights without compromise, organized an open public meeting on the anticipated French burqa ban in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris, France, on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, at 7:30 pm. The meeting was held in an elementary school in Montreuil. Ni Putes Ni Soumises representatives had canvassed the city earlier in the day, to spread awareness of the event. The President of Ni Putes Ni Soumises, Ms. Sihem Habchi, was present, along with a number of local elected government officials and Ms. Lubna Al Hussein, the Sudanese journalist and women’s rights activist who risked 40 lashes of the whip for wearing pants in Khartoum. Approximately 150 persons attended the debate, including a number of Islamists who attempted to shout down anyone expressing support for the public burqa ban in France. A handful of veiled women were present and gave testimonials, including one woman in niqab (the face veil that will be included in the anticipated ban).

Hostilities began almost immediately. The gulf that exists between the pro and anti-burqa ban camps could not have been more apparent. When the women’s rights activists and elected officials spoke, they spoke of the creation of a safe, egalitarian and secular public space in which all citizens enjoy equal rights and equal protection under the law. They spoke of women’s rights and the importance of ensuring gender equality and gender desegregation in a secular, democratic republic.

When the anti-burqa ban contingent spoke, they spoke only of Islam amid accusations of anti-immigrant racism. They defended the burqa as a tenet of Islam, as indicated in the Quran and supported by the Sunnah in the Hadith.

The secularists refused to address the tenets of Islam as wholly irrelevant. The Islamists interpreted this refusal as bigotry. The heated debate erupted in violence, which resulted in only minor injuries, but which provided further evidence of the utter incompatibility of democratic governance and religion. The police arrived. They detained the remaining participants for some time, but the perpetrators had already fled the scene.

Many persons expressed that their participation in the truncated debate had served to increase their support for the ban on identity obscuring face coverings in public in France.