Far-right Polish lawmaker Grzegorz Braun sparked outrage on Tuesday by using a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles during an event with Jewish community members, causing the speaker to exclude him from the gathering.
Braun was seen taking the extinguisher before walking across the lobby of the Parliament where the candles were kept, creating a white cloud and causing security to evacuate people from the area.
After the incident, Braun took to the podium and described the festival of Hanukkah as "satanic" and claimed to "restore humanity". When asked whether he was ashamed of his behaviour, the Polish lawmaker said, "Those who take part in acts of satanic worship should be ashamed."
Members of the Jewish community, including children, had gone to parliament at speaker Szymon Holownia's invitation for its annual Hanukkah celebrations. People in the vicinity were covered in white powder after Braun's bizarre antic.
Action taken against Braun
Holownia excluded Braun from the sitting of parliament and said that he would inform prosecutors about his actions. "There will be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia, antisemitism ... as long as I am the speaker of parliament," said Holownia.
He also said that Braun would lose half of his salary for three months and all parliamentary expenses for six months. The disruption came ahead of a key vote on approving newly appointed pro-EU prime minister Donald Tusk.
Tusk called the incident a disgrace and said such a thing should never be repeated. He gave his inaugural speech on Tuesday and pledged to demand the Western world to keep up its military and economic support for Ukraine against Russia.
Braun's Confederation Party had been tipped to hold the balance of power in Poland's October 15 election, during which the party criticised the extent of the country's aid to Ukraine. However, it ended up winning only 18 out of the 560 seats.
The party said that it condemned Braun's behaviour in a post on social media. "For thousands of years our enemies have been trying to extinguish us, from the time of the Maccabees right through to Hamas. But our enemies should learn, they cannot extinguish us," said Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich on Braun's actions.
Braun's previous actions
Braun, a pro-Russian member of the Confederation party, in the past has falsely claimed that there is a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state.” He previously caused a ruckus by approaching and shouting at lawmakers as they addressed the Parliament.
Earlier this year, he disrupted a planned lecture by Holocaust scholar Jan Grabowski, who has researched instances of Polish complicity in the Holocaust, causing the lecture to be cancelled, the Guardian reported.
After the incident on Tuesday, Braun left the chamber and shook hands with other far-right lawmakers. Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne also condemned the incident.
"Poland has experienced the atrocities of the Holocaust, and this disgusting act of hatred reminds us all why we must remain vigilant and fight anti-Semitism every minute of every day," said the US ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, on X.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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