Is This A Race or Religious Riot?

One take

Jewish and Arab residents of the northern town of Acre resumed violent riots in the city Thursday evening, after the Yom Kippur fast concluded, with police warding off hundreds of Jewish youths chanting "death to Arabs" as they tried to storm the city's main road.

...violence broke out before dawn Thursday when a group of Jewish rioters allegedly assaulted an Arab man.

According to the group, the man drove a car into the eastern part of the city during Yom Kippur, a day on which even secular Israelis traditionally refrain from driving out of respect for the holiday. The incident touched off large-scale rioting between Jews and Arabs, resulting in extensive damage to dozens of cars and shops.

The unrest erupted around midnight on Wednesday, hours after Jews began observing Yom Kippur. An Arab resident of the old city of Acre drove his car to a neighborhood in the eastern part of the city, claiming that he owned a residence there and was simply on his way home. Jewish youths at the scene claimed the Arab man was deliberately making excessive noise.

While allegedly shouting epithets, the youths proceeded to attack the Arab man. Shortly afterward, a group of Arab youths arrived at the scene, igniting a riot.

News of the incident spread to the surrounding Arab neighborhoods of the town, including the old city, prompting hundreds to take to the streets. A significant crowd began coalescing along Ben Ami Street, which is considered the key commercial avenue in the city. Dozens of cars and shops along the street were vandalized...

Take two

Serious clashes between the Jews and Arabs of Acre left dozens of wrecked cars, smashed windows, flat tires and uprooted trees on the eve of Yom Kippur, Wednesday.

The clashes reportedly erupted after an Arab resident of Acre's Old City entered the Ben Gurion neighborhood on Yom Kippur - when traffic comes to a halt across the nation - arousing the fury of Jewish residents there who pelted his car with stones.

Yom Kippur is one of a few Jewish holidays whose prohibitions are observed in public by virtually all Jews and even secular Israelis refrain from desecrating the holiness of the day in public.

...Meanwhile, word spread in the Old City that the driver had been killed. Hundreds of Arab youth stormed the streets heading for the Jewish neighborhoods. Violent clashes ensued and police managed to calm the situation only after they asked Arab dignitaries to pull their weight and influence the youngsters to stop.

But en route home, the Arab residents destroyed property, reportedly shouting "Death to the Jews," "Allah hu Akbar [God is Great in Arabic]" and threatening to kill Jews "if you dare leave your houses."

A bystander said the driver who sparked the clashes was driving threateningly near several girls sitting in a park. After the girls started screaming, he reportedly incited the Jewish youths who came to see what had happened when he said, "you don't know what's coming for you".

Some time later his car was attacked and shortly after the Arab youths of the Old City enacted their vengeance.

The bystander said that Jewish residents were afraid to leave their houses even to go to synagogue. He told of "400-meter rows of cars, each and every one with smashed windows." He said the devastation seen in the streets was worse than after a Katyusha rocket fell in the city in the Second Lebanon War.

Police were not quick to respond, according to eyewitnesses. The team manning the Acre station on Yom Kippur is Arab and residents claimed that this was why they were afraid to intervene. Only after Acre's Jews called the Kiryat Shmona and Motzkin stations did police arrive.