NEW DELHI: Two men jumped into the legislators’ area of the Indian parliament’s lower house on Wednesday and opened canisters that emitted yellow smoke in a major security breach for a heavily-secured building in New Delhi, Reuters reported.
The breach at the high-security zone in the Indian capital comes on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on the Indian parliament.
The breach has shocked the lawmakers and nation alike. However, the security personnel have detained those involved in committing the breach.
The culprits were seated in the visitors’ gallery and hiding the canisters in their shoes. The parliamentary members told journalists that the protestors raised slogans “dictatorship will not be accepted”.
Two other protesters were also arrested near the parliament complex.
Indian news channel 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, Reuters stated in a report.
Two suspects, meanwhile, were taken into custody following the security breach, the channel said citing police.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in parliament at the time.
“On this day, India’s parliament has been attacked again,” lawmaker Karti Chidambaram told reporters outside parliament.
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.
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