Poland’s parliament shortly slapped the controversial politician with the best monetary penalty allowed
A far-right lawmaker in Poland used a hearth extinguisher to douse menorah candles throughout an official Hanukkah ceremony on Tuesday, calling the Jewish vacation a type of “satanic worship.” The stunt was later referred to prosecutors by Warsaw’s parliament speaker.
Hosted within the Polish parliament constructing on Tuesday, the annual Hanukkah celebration was disrupted by Grzegorz Braun of the Confederation social gathering, who was filmed as he hosed down a big menorah with a hearth extinguisher taken from a close-by wall.
The incident was captured in movies making the rounds on-line, with Braun seen unleashing a cloud of white powder into the occasion corridor as he made his method towards the candles – which characterize the eight days of the Hanukkah vacation.
Polish member of parliament Grzegorz Braun used a hearth extinguisher to place out candles on a menorah that was lit for Hannukah.Parliamentary proceedings had been suspended. Braun has beforehand claimed there’s a plot to show Poland right into a “Jewish state.” pic.twitter.com/wRmIhcxEPk
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Braun was instantly confronted by different bystanders throughout the act, with one lady even making an attempt to bodily intervene earlier than taking a blast from the extinguisher.
In a short assertion after the stunt, the lawmaker declared that he was restoring “normalcy,” additionally labeling Hanukkah as “satanic.” Requested if he was ashamed of what he did, Braun mentioned: “Those that participate in acts of satanic worship ought to be ashamed.”
Parliament speaker Szymon Holownia, who hosted the vacation celebration, referred to as the motion “completely scandalous,” including that Braun had been excluded from Tuesday’s parliament session. He mentioned he hoped the MP “wouldn’t return quickly,” and famous that the incident had been referred to prosecutors for doable authorized motion.
Later, the speaker added that Braun’s wage can be halved for 3 months, and he can be pressured to pay his personal bills for six months, the best monetary penalty permitted for lawmakers.
“There might be no tolerance for racism, xenophobia, [or] anti-Semitism… so long as I’m the speaker of parliament,” Holownia mentioned.
Braun has made headlines with controversial statements previously, having referred to as for the execution of “full-time traitors” working in native media again in 2012. Through the Covid-19 disaster, he mentioned then-Well being Minister Adam Niedzielski can be “hanged” over the federal government’s pandemic insurance policies, which was additionally reported to the prosecutor’s workplace.
The MP confronted accusations of anti-Semitism after disrupting a lecture on the Holocaust earlier this 12 months, storming the rostrum and seizing the microphone from Polish-Canadian historian Jan Grabowski earlier than destroying the sound system on stage. Braun insisted his standing as a lawmaker gave him authorized immunity on the time, and in the end was not charged for the incident.
