A far-right lawmaker in the Polish parliament used a fire extinguisher on Tuesday and put out a candle on a menorah that was lit for the Jewish holiday Hanukkah.
All major political forces quickly denounced the incident carried out by Grzegorz Braun, and said there would be no tolerance for antisemitic and xenophobic behavior in the Sejm, the Polish parliament.
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The speaker of the parliament, Szymon Holownia, called the act “absolutely scandalous” and excluded him from the day’s parliamentary proceedings. He said he was reporting him to prosecutors.
“Poland is home of all religions,” Holownia said.
Workers clean a menorah in the Polish parliament after far-right lawmaker Grzegorz Braun hosed it down with a fire extinguisher, Warsaw, Poland, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
TVN24 showed footage of Braun with a red fire extinguisher putting out the fire and causing smoke or haze to fill the area. The parliamentary proceedings were temporarily suspended.
New Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the incident a disgrace and said such a thing should never be repeated. Tusk was elected on Monday and gave his inaugural speech to parliament on Tuesday, pledging to demand that the Western world keep up its help for Ukraine.
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.”
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After the incident the candles were lit again.
