Polish lawmaker who extinguished Hanukkah candles faces charges

A Polish far-right lawmaker who used a fire extinguisher to put out Jewish Hanukkah candles in the country's parliament has been charged with crimes including insulting people on religious grounds, state news agency PAP reported on Tuesday.

A Polish far-right lawmaker who used a fire extinguisher to put out Jewish Hanukkah candles in the country's parliament has been charged with crimes including insulting people on religious grounds, state news agency PAP reported on Tuesday. Poland's parliament had voted to remove the immunity from prosecution of Grzegorz B. from the Confederation party after the incident in December caused international outrage.

Polish privacy laws forbid the publication of the surnames of people who have been charged with criminal offences. The lawmaker had disrupted an event with members of the Jewish community, taking an 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.

He then took to the podium in the chamber where he described Hanukkah as "satanic" and said he was restoring "normality". Asked later if he was ashamed of his action, he said: "Those who take part in acts of satanic worship should be ashamed." Szymon Banna, spokesperson for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, told PAP that Grzegorz B. had been charged with insulting a group of people on religious grounds.

The lawmaker, who has also made pro-Russian statements in the past, also faced charges in relation to other incidents including dumping a Christmas tree decorated in the colours of the European Union and Ukraine in the bin and damaging a microphone during a talk by a Holocaust historian. Reuters was not able to contact Grzegorz B. for comment. It was not immediately clear what punishment he might face.

He had previously rejected the prosecutor's accusations against him and said they were "inconsistent with the actual situation and the material truth". Lawmakers from across the political spectrum united in condemnation of the incident involving the candles.

Historically difficult relations between Poland and Israel have been strained recently after a Polish man was among seven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza. Israel did not have an ambassador in Poland for months under the previous government due to a row over Holocaust education trips for Israeli students to Poland. He was reinstated last year.

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