A man jumped into the lawmakers’ area of the lower house of India’s parliament on Wednesday, TV channels showed, in a major security breach on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on the complex, Reuters reported.
CNN News 18 showed a man wearing a black jacket jump from the visitors’ area into the lawmakers’ seating area, climbing over tables of lawmakers. Two suspects were taken into custody following the security breach, the channel said citing police.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in parliament at the time.
Gaurav Gogoi, another lawmaker, said one of the two suspects was shouting slogans. Other lawmakers said there was some kind of sound followed by smoke in the chambers.
More than a dozen people, including five gunmen were killed in an attack on India’s parliament complex in 2001, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based militants.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said “Suddenly two young men around 20 years old jumped into the House from the visitor’s gallery and had canisters in their hand. These canisters were emitting yellow smoke. One of them was attempting to run towards the Speaker’s chair. They were shouting some slogans. The smoke could have been poisonous. This is a serious breach of security especially on 13th December, the day when Parliament was attacked in 2001…”
