April 17th, 2018 
(BREITBART) — by Chris Tomlinson
Hundreds of police were deployed after residents rioted and torched cars in Toulouse following a police stop of a woman wearing an illegal full-face Islamic veil.
The incident that allegedly sparked the riots took place Sunday after 5 pm when local police stopped a woman in the Toulouse district of Bellefontaine who was wearing a full-face Islamic veil, which is illegal in France.
Police asked the woman for identification and when she presented a poor photocopy of her government identification, they ordered her to remove her veil, broadcaster Franceinfo reports.
The woman refused to lift her veil and is said to have started screaming for help. She was then arrested and placed in the police vehicle.
Shortly after, around 30 locals arrived and attacked the police with projectiles, injuring one officer. The officers retreated and discharged their weapons, including a tear gas launcher, 18 times before they could escape the mob.
Police believe there may have been a link between the incident and the riots in Bellefontaine and the neighboring district of Reynerie which erupted at around 8 pm.
Around 15 cars were torched by the rioters and 200 police mobilized during the riots which lasted several hours with some 300 tear gas grenades fired until calm was restored at around midnight.
Firefighters were not able to reach the scene until after 10:30 pm due to residents lighting fires on the road. The police station in Bellefontaine was also targeted by rioters.
“The clashes were extremely violent,” said Didier Martinez of the peacekeeping union. “My colleagues were very shocked, the events were very complicated to manage but they showed a lot of composure.”[READ MORE]