2023-12-12 18:30 update: 2023-12-13, 21:15
Photo: PAP/Marcin Obara
Grzegorz Braun, a senior member of the far-right Confederation party, has used a fire extinguisher to put out candles in a Hanukkah menorah in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament.
Hanukkah, a Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem in 164 BC, was celebrated at the Sejm on Thursday. Braun, who has a history of anti-Semitic statements, grabbed a fire extinguisher and walked up to the menorah with the extinguisher already released, spraying the candles and the whole Sejm hall with the extinguisher powder.
Szymon Holownia, speaker of the Sejm, expelled Braun from Tuesday's sitting and called a recess in the session, during which the new Donald Tusk government was to be put to a vote of confidence.
Holownia also said a motion against Braun's behaviour will be sent to the prosecutor's office, notifying it of the MP's disturbance of a religious ceremony.
"Such a thing should never have happened and it is a slap in the face of the Polish Sejm," Holownia said, adding there will be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism "as long as I am the Sejm speaker."
Later on Tuesday, the Presidium of the Sejm penalised Braun with the withdrawal of a half of his remuneration for three months and his entire subsistence allowance for six months. The Presidium authorised the Sejm's Office to file a motion to the prosecutor's office.
A Hanukkah menorah is a candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. (PAP)
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