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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Police are investigating far-right presidential candidate Grzegorz Braun, who is also a member of the European Parliament, after he vandalised an exhibition about LGBT+ people in a Polish city.
As a result of Braun’s actions, the municipal authorities immediately cancelled the leasing of a hall that the candidate had been due to hold a campaign event in. They are also seeking compensation for the damage he caused.
Europoseł @GrzegorzBraun_ zniszczył wystawę na opolskim rynku – zamazał plansze czarnym sprejem. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Ql3wHYvFly
— tvp.info 🇵🇱 (@tvp_info) March 18, 2025
The incident occurred in Opole, a city of 130,000 people in southwest Poland. On Tuesday morning, Braun was pictured using a can of black spray paint to write the words “Stop the propaganda of perversion” on display boards that had been set up on the market square.
They were part of an exhibition, opened just a day earlier, presenting the stories of 20 LGBT+ people from the Opole region with the aim of promoting awareness and tolerance.
It was organised by a local NGO, Tęczowe Opole (meaning Rainbow Opole), in cooperation with the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Opole, a municipal institution, and funded by the European Union.
After vandalising the boards, Braun was seen himself calling the police to report the exhibition as an “indecent act”. He later told a reporter from local broadcaster Radio Opole that the exhibition was “endangering bystanders, especially minors”.
State broadcaster TVP reports that officers who arrived at the scene took notes and informed the politician about the legal consequences of damaging property.
A police spokeswoman told broadcaster TVN on Tuesday that they were speaking with witnesses and securing camera footage of the incident before taking further action.
Meanwhile, Tęczowe Opole announced on Wednesday that they would reopen the exhibition in the coming days.
Later on Tuesday, Braun was due to hold a meeting at Opole’s Exhibition and Congress Center (CWK). However, the municipal authorities, which manage the venue, quickly announced that they had terminated the contract for the event.
“The reason is the scandalous behaviour of Mr Braun, related to the act of vandalism against the Tęczowe Opole exhibition,” said city official Katarzyna Oborska-Marciniak, quoted by local newspaper Nowa Trybuna Opolska.
“According to our regulations, the facility cannot be used for events that may violate personal rights or negatively affect the image of the local authorities,” she added. “A situation in which someone destroys city property in the morning and organises a meeting in our facility in the afternoon is unacceptable.”
Prosecutors have charged Grzegorz Braun, the far-right MP who attacked a Jewish ceremony in parliament, with the crime of insulting a religious group, which carries a potential prison sentence.
He has also been charged over a number of other incidents https://t.co/oSMecQMEB4
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 9, 2024
The decision was supported by the city’s mayor, Arkadiusz Wiśniewski, who wrote on social media that “a presidential candidate who does not respect public property will certainly not respect Poland”.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for city hall, Adam Leszczyński, announced that they would seek to claim compensation from Braun for the damage he caused, which is estimated at 35,000 zloty, reports news website Wirtualna Polska. The display boards belong to the city’s Gallery of Contemporary Art.
After his meeting at the congress centre was banned, Braun instead held an impromptu gathering of his supporters in front of city hall, where he made a speech attacking the mayor.
#Opole teraz.
Tyle gromadzi kandydat który jest pomijany w sondażach albo ma 0,5%.I niech tak zostanie do 18 maja. A 19 maja wielu się zdziwi.
Zjednoczony Front Gaśnicowy.
Polacy wiedzą lepiej.
Tu jest Polska. #Braun2025 pic.twitter.com/RVSlJEEik3— Konrad Niżnik #Braun2025 (@KonradNiznik_) March 18, 2025
Braun has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories relating to Jews, LGBT+ people and the COVID pandemic. In 2019, he claimed that “Jew-Masons” are using “sodomites” as part of their attempts to bring about “world revolution”. He called for homosexuality to be punished with prison sentences.
Most infamously, in December 2023, Braun attacked a Jewish ceremony taking place in parliament by using a fire extinguisher to put out Hannukah candles. He is also currently banned for six months from appearing in the European Parliament due to disrupting a minute’s silence to honour Holocaust victims.
Braun was one of the founders of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) political party that holds 16 seats in Poland’s parliament. However, he was expelled earlier this year after announcing a rival presidential bid to the party’s official candidate, Sławomir Mentzen.
While Mentzen is flying high in the polls, with support of around 18%, placing him third, Braun is languishing on just 0.5%, according to polling averages compiled by the eWybory website.
Far-right candidate @SlawomirMentzen's rise in the polls has turned Poland's presidential election into a three-horse race
Mentzen has managed to detoxify his party and has benefited from other candidates mainstreaming its positions, writes @danieltilles1 https://t.co/Ql9LihJ7tu
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 28, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Marta Czech/X
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
