NEW DELHI, Dec 13 — A "serious security breach" took place at the Indian parliament on Wednesday as two men jumped into the lower house from the visitors' gallery, causing a commotion.
In videos posted on social media, one man is seen jumping over the lawmakers' seats in the Lok Sabha while people tried to catch him.
Lawmaker Rajendra Agarwal, who was conducting House proceedings at that time, told the media that two men were involved in the incident.
"When the first person jumped down, we thought he might have fallen but when the second person started coming down, he was trying to jump, we became alert," Agarwal said.
Describing the incident, which took place around 1 pm, Malook Nagar, another member of parliament, said initially people thought someone had accidentally fallen from the gallery.
Some members got together and beat up one intruder who had removed one of his shoes.
Nagar said the intention was to subdue him in case he was carrying a weapon.
The two were carrying gas canisters in their hands and shouting slogans, according to lawmakers.
They also shouted slogans, with one being "tanashahi nahi chalegi" (tyranny won't be tolerated).
"These canisters were emitting yellow smoke. One of them was attempting to run towards the Speaker's chair," lawmaker Karti Chidambaram said.
"This is a serious breach of security, especially on 13th December, the day when Parliament was attacked in 2001," he said, adding that there were around 100 parliament members present at that time.
At least four people were in police custody in connection with the incidents inside and outside the parliament building, local media reported.
Outside the parliament complex, police arrested two protesters – one male and one female – who shouted slogans and released yellow and red smoke form hand-held canisters.
As police personnel carried her away the woman raised slogans like "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" (hail mother India), "tanashahi band karo" (stop tyranny), "mahilaon pe atyachar band karo" (stop atrocities against women), "Samvidhan bachao" (save constitution), and "Jai Bhim" (meaning victory to Bhim, a reference to Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the architect of India's constitution).
— Bernama
