WARSAW, Dec – A far-right Polish lawmaker used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles in the country’s parliament on Tuesday during an event with members of the Jewish community, provoking outrage and leading the speaker to exclude him from the sitting.
Footage posted on the website of private broadcaster TVN24 showed Grzegorz Braun of the Confederation party take the extinguisher before walking across the lobby of the parliament to where the candles were, creating a white cloud and forcing security guards to rush people out of the area.
Members of the Jewish community, including children, had gone to parliament at speaker Szymon Holownia’s invitation for its annual Hanukkah celebrations.
The footage showed people in the vicinity covered in powder from the extinguisher.
Afterwards Braun took to the podium in the chamber where he described Hanukkah as “satanic” and said he was restoring “normality”.
Asked just after the incident if he was ashamed, Braun replied: “Those who take part in acts of satanic worship should be ashamed.”
Magdalena Gudzinska-Adamczyk was present at the scene and footage showed her challenging Braun as he extinguished the candles.
“I feel very short of breath and have trouble speaking,” she told TVN24, her face covered in white powder. “I have stopped feeling safe in this country.”
Holownia excluded Braun from the sitting of parliament ahead of a confidence vote in newly appointed pro-EU prime minister Donald Tusk and said he would inform prosecutors about his actions.
