Hanukkah menorah vandalized in Poland

WARSAW (AA) - Five unidentified assailants vandalized a Hanukkah menorah in Wroclaw, Poland.

Speaking to the Polish news agency, PAP, Wroclaw Mayor Jacek Sutryk said Dec. 14, five men climbed the candlestick that is lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in the city center, took down and burned the Israeli flag, toppled the menorah with Hanukkah candles and fled.

"The police are carrying out extensive activities, including unexplainable operations, to identify the perpetrators and their whereabouts," said Rafal Jarzab of the Wroclaw Police.

Grzegorz Braun, a far-right Polish lawmaker from the Confederation Party, used a fire extinguisher to extinguish the burning candles during the annual menorah-lighting ceremony in the Sejm, the lower house of the parliament, on Dec. 12 for Hanukkah.

*Writing in Istanbul by Zeynep Cetin