Grzegorz Braun from the Confederation took a fire extinguisher and then walked across the Parliament hall to where the candles were., forming a white cloud (…). The recording shows people nearby covered in powder from a fire extinguisher. He then walked to the podium in the lobby [plenarnej], where he called Hanukkah “satanic” and said it restored “normalcy,” describes Reuters. When asked immediately after the incident if he was ashamed, Braun replied, “Those who engage in acts of Satan worship should be ashamed of themselves.”
The agency notes that Marshal Szymon Hołownia excluded Braun from the meeting and announced that he would inform the prosecutor’s office about his actions. “There will be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism… as long as I am president of Parliament,” Hołownia told reporters.
As Reuters writes, “Braun left the room shaking hands with other far-right lawmakers.”
CBS News on Braun: a pro-Russian politician who believes in a conspiracy
In turn, CBS News writes that Braun is a pro-Russian member of the Confederation Party who has previously claimed there is a plot to turn Poland into a “Jewish state.”
The British Daily Mail reports on a shocking recording that shows Braun putting out candles, and seconds later one of the women “desperately tries to snatch the extinguisher from him, but the far-right MP hits her in the face with it white powder.
See also: Scandalous behavior of MP Braun in the Sejm. Financial sanction and referral to the prosecution
Hanukkah celebration
Foreign media also explain that the ceremony of lighting the nine-armed candlestick took place in the Polish parliament on the occasion of Jewish Festival of Lights (Chanukah) with the participation of rabbis and a Jewish music group. The candles were relighted after the incident.
“All major political forces quickly condemned the Braun incident, saying there would be no tolerance for anti-Semitic and xenophobic behavior in the Sejm, Poland’s parliament,” writes the Daily Mail.