Germany Jews and Muslims protest at circumcision ruling
Jewish and Muslim organisations have staged a joint
protest in the German capital Berlin over a regional court's ruling that the
circumcision of young boys constituted bodily harm.
The protest was prompted by the news that a rabbi in
Bavaria was being investigated over the practice.
The ruling on circumcision was handed down by a court in
Cologne in June.
However, the German government has since announced it
will legislate to explicitly legalise the practice.
About a thousand people joined the protest to hear
speeches from the chief rabbi of Berlin and other religious leaders.
"I'm here to stand for the freedom of religious
rights," protester Fereshta Ludin told the BBC.
The court in Cologne had declared that the ritual
circumcision of a Muslim boy, in accordance with his parents' faith, had caused
the child bodily harm.
The German Medical Association then told doctors across
the country to stop performing the procedure.
Both Jews and Muslims feel that, whatever the court
intended, the ruling will be used as a way of attacking their religions, the
BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin reports.
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