Two men have been arrested after jumping from the visitor’s gallery into the lower house of India’s parliament and setting off canisters of “foul-smelling” smoke.
The major security breach at the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, comes on the anniversary of a deadly attack on the parliament complex in 2001.
The two men arrested inside the building have been identified as Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan, both in their 20s.
They had managed to smuggle the canisters into the building in their shoes.
Video from Lok Sabha TV, an Indian TV channel which provides coverage of government proceedings, showed a man jumping over desks as he appeared to be trying to reach the speaker of the house.
The man was seen being cornered by some MPs and house staff after he opened the canister and released yellow smoke.
Two others, a man named Amol Shinde and a woman identified as Neelum, were arrested outside the parliamentary building after also emitting smoke from canisters.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, who was in the parliament building, said: “I saw two young men unleash foul-smelling yellow-coloured gas from canisters inside the parliament gallery.
“MPs rushed to grab these men. One person was raising some slogans. This raises serious questions on another aspect of the new parliament building – security.”
MP Karti Chidambaram said: “It was only after the second person jumped that I realised it was a security breach… the gas could have been poisonous.”
Some MPs said they felt a burning sensation in their eyes after the smoke was emitted.
However, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said the smoke was harmless.
He said: “All material with the people who breached the security of the parliament have been confiscated. The two people who were outside the parliament have also been arrested. In our preliminary probe, the smoke was harmless and not a cause for concern.”
Parliament was adjourned for a few hours and has now resumed its session.
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Visitors to the parliament building have to go through at least five levels of security to reach inside the house complex.
To get a visitor pass a person has to apply beforehand and a background check is done by the police.
Inside the building there are several levels of security checks and scanners.
Earlier in the day Indian politicians observed the anniversary of the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament by armed assailants who killed six police officers, two security guards, and a gardener.
The five attackers were killed by security forces. India blamed the attack on a Pakistan-based group.
