RELIGIOUS violence flared yesterday as thousands turned out to line the streets at the funeral of Theo van Gogh, the murdered film-maker and vocal critic of Islam.

Two Dutch churches were attacked by arsonists, in seeming retaliation for earlier attacks on mosques, while an opinion poll showing that 40 per cent of Dutch people no longer considered Muslims welcome underlined a rapid deterioration of tolerance in the previously liberal Netherlands. A Muslim school in the southern Dutch village of Uden was burnt down last night. The attackers left a message referring to the murder.

Mr van Gogh, whose last film, Submission, criticised the treatment of women under Islam, was cremated in a ceremony broadcast on large screens for the crowds outside an Amsterdam cemetery and live on national television. A sarcastic letter was read out to Mr van Gogh’s killer, promising “we will do our very best to learn more about your beliefs to prevent further misunderstanding” and apologising that the killing “had to happen in the middle of Ramadan”. ...