The Speaker of the parliament Szymon Holownia denounced the incident carried out by Grzegorz Braun and said there would be no tolerance for antisemitic and xenophobic behaviour in the Sejm, the Polish parliament.
Footage posted on the website of private broadcaster TVN24 showed Grzegorz Braun of the Confederation 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.
He then took to the podium in the chamber where he described the 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."
The Speaker excluded Braun from the sitting and said he would inform prosecutors about his actions.
New Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it a disgrace and said such a thing should never be repeated.Â
Tusk was elected on Monday and gave his inaugural speech to parliament on Tuesday, pledging to demand that Europe keep up its help for Ukraine.
Braun, a pro-Russian member of the Confederation party, in the past has claimed that there is a plot to turn Poland into a "Jewish state".
Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told Reuters by telephone that Braun's actions were not representative of the country and that he was "embarrassed" by them.
"Someone extinguished the Hanukkah candles and a few minutes later we relit them," he said. "For thousands of years our enemies have been trying to extinguish us, from the time of the Maccabees right through to Hamas. But our enemies should learn, they cannot extinguish us."
Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Poland's Catholic church said in a statement posted on social media platform X that he was ashamed of Braun's actions.
"(I) apologise to the entire Jewish community in Poland," he wrote.
with Reuters
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