Jewish and Muslim groups have protested after a German court banned the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons, in the first ruling of its kind in the country.
It ruled involuntary religious circumcision should be made illegal because it could inflict serious bodily harm on people who had not consented to it.
However, the ruling, which applies only to the Cologne area, said boys who consciously decided to be circumcised could have the operation.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany called the ruling an "unprecedented and dramatic intrusion" of the right to religious freedom, and an "outrageous and insensitive" act.
"Circumcision for young boys is a solid component of the Jewish religion and has been practised worldwide for millennia. This religious right is respected in every country around the world," president Dieter Graumann said in a statement.
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany called the sentence a "blatant and inadmissible interference" in the rights of parents.
According to the court ruling, "the fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighs the fundamental rights of the parents".
"The child's body is permanently and irreparably changed by the circumcision. This change runs counter to the interests of the child, who can decide his religious affiliation himself later in life," it said.
Germany is home to about 4 million Muslims and 120,000 Jews.
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