Minister of Justice Laurette Onkelinx announced that the Christmas trees and other Christmas decoration at the Law Courts in Brussels will not be removed. She denies the report in La Dernière Heure to that effect. According to the Brussels newspaper all Christmas decorations were to be removed due to "religious reasons".
According to the minister the decorated Christmas trees will always stay and just several other decorations were removed in order to protect the court's visibility and austerity.
La Dernière Heure had written that the decorations must be removed in order not to offend part of the population. "We must stay neutral towards the Muslims."
Justice said the Christmas decorations were a cultural tradition that had nothing to do with religious symbolism.
Source: De Morgen (Dutch)
Update
The original article did not talk of removing Christmas trees or of removing all the decorations in the court. The report in La Dernière Heure says the Christmas decoration were removed from two offices at the entrance of the building because a new boss decided it was offensive to Muslims. When the newspaper went to check, they were met by a wall of silence. The employees were panicked that if they say anything they will be fired.
Sources: La Dernière Heure (French), Nieuw Religieus Peil (Dutch)
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