India: Man Jumps Into Parliament, Sets Off Smoke Can

A man jumped into the lawmakers’ area of India’s Parliament, shouted slogans and set off a smoke can on Wednesday, in a major security breach on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on the complex.

The Parliament TV channel showed a young man wearing a black jacket and dark trousers jump from the visitors’ gallery into the lawmakers’ seating area in the lower house while a member was speaking, climbing over tables and entering the aisles.

He was surrounded by security staff and lawmakers and caught in an aisle as he set off a smoke can in his shoes, releasing dense white and yellow smoke, lawmakers said.

Four people, including the man, had been arrested, authorities said.

“It all happened in half a minute or one minute,” Rajendra Agarwal, a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who was presiding over the house, told CNN News 18 TV channel, adding he saw a second person in the visitors’ gallery also trying to jump into the lawmakers’ area.

REUTERS