The premier of Germany's Bavaria state sparked an uproar Wednesday after his cabinet ordered that Christian crosses be fixed in the entrance halls of all public buildings.
Markus Soeder, whose conservative CSU party faces a far-right challenge in state elections in October, declared that "the cross is a fundamental symbol of our Bavarian identity and way of life".
It should be seen as a cultural rather than a religious symbol, added Soeder of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
AFP