BERLIN: Around 500 Jewish, Christian and Muslim protesters gathered in Berlin yesterday to demand the right to circumcision after a disputed court ruling in Germany outlawing the rite.
One banner at the demonstration accused Germany of reverting to a “colonial power”.
Following the judgment from the court in Cologne saying circumcision was tantamount to grievous bodily harm, Jewish and Muslim groups joined forces for the protest in central Berlin as the foreign minister expressed his concern.
“I am very worried about this debate. It will not be understood in any way outside our country,” Guido Westerwelle told a news magazine.
Diplomats admit the ruling has proved “disastrous” for Germany’s international image, particularly in light of its Nazi past, following uproar from religious and political leaders of the world.
The leader of Germany’s Jewish community, Dieter Graumann, told the same publication it was “unbearable” that Jews were being portrayed as “child torturers” for carrying out the practice.
And he backed his predecessor as head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch.
On Wednesday, the city of Berlin imposed new legal conditions on parents who have their boys circumcised.
Both parents must give written permission after being informed of the risks of the procedure, and provide proof of the “religious motivation and religious necessity of the circumcision” before the child is old enough to take the decision himself.
Berlin’s top justice official, Thomas Heilmann, said the new policy was intended to protect the rights of Jewish and Muslim parents and their children.
About four million Muslims and more than 200,000 Jews live in Germany.
Jews, Muslims stage circumcision march in Germany
Jews, Muslims stage circumcision march in Germany
US warns UK to stop arresting Palestine Action supporters
- Undersecretary of state for diplomacy: Arrests doing ‘more harm than good’ and ‘censoring’ free speech
- Group was banned in July 2025 after series of break-ins
LONDON: UK authorities should stop arresting protesters showing support for banned group Palestine Action, the White House has warned.
The US undersecretary of state for diplomacy said arrests are doing “more harm than good” and are “censoring” free speech.
Sarah Rogers told news site Semafor: “I would have to look at each individual person and each proscribed organization. I think if you support an organization like Hamas, then depending upon whether you’re coordinating, there are all these standards that get applied.
“This Palestine Action group, I’ve seen it written about. I don’t know what it did. I think if you just merely stand up and say, ‘I support Palestine Action’, then unless you are really coordinating with some violent foreign terrorist, I think that censoring that speech does more harm than good.”
So far, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the UK for showing support for the group.
It was banned in July 2025 after a series of break-ins nationwide, including at a facility owned by a defense manufacturer and a Royal Air Force base, during which military aircraft were damaged.
Last year, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those arrested while protesting for Palestine Action.
The group is challenging its ban, saying it should not be compared to terrorist organizations such as the Irish Republican Army, Daesh or Al-Qaeda.
The ban has been criticized by numerous bodies, with Amnesty International calling it a case of “problematic, overly broad and draconian restrictions on free speech.”
In Scotland, prosecutors have been offering to drop charges against some protesters in return for accepting a fine of £100 ($134.30).
Adam McGibbon, who was arrested at a demonstration in Edinburgh last year, refused the offer, saying: “The fact that the authorities are offering fines equivalent to a parking ticket for a ‘terrorism offence’ shows just how ridiculous these charges are. Do supporters of (Daesh) get the same deal?
“I refuse to pay this fine, as has everyone else I know who has been offered one. Just try and put all 3,000 of us who have defied this ban so far in jail.”
Rogers said the UK is also wrong to arrest people using the phrase “globalize the intifada” while demonstrating in support of Palestine, after police in Manchester said in December that it would detain people chanting it.
“I’m from New York City where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists,” she said. referring to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I don’t want an intifada in New York City, and I think anyone who does is disgusting, but should it be legal to say in most contexts? Yes.”
