Parliament breaches and attacks around the world

Security breach at the Indian Parliament on the day of the 2001 terror attacks has sent shockwaves around the country. Here we take a look at other attacks and security breaches in Parliaments across the world.

Indian Parliament security breach has been dominating national headlines after two people jumped from visitors' gallery to Lok Sabha chamber and halted the ongoing winter session, triggering chaos and panic in the House.

Around the same time, two others caught spraying coloured gas from canisters while shouting 'tanashahi nahi chalegi (There cannot be dictatorship)' outside Parliament premises. Ironically, it all happened on a day when India was observing the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack.

As dramatic as the incident sounds, here are a few incidents of Parliament breaches and attacks from around the world.

2017 UK Parliament Terror Attack

At least five people died while another 40 were injured when an assailant mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and subsequently stabbed a police officer outside the parliament complex before being fatally shot by Scotland Yard officers.

The then prime minister Theresa May condemned the terror strike as a "sick and depraved" assault on democratic values and paid tributes to the "exceptional men and women" of the police force who responded to the attack.

1987 Sri Lankan Parliament Grenade Attack

The Sri Lankan Parliament was rocked by a grenade attack on August 18, 1987 when an assailant threw two grenades into the room where MPs were meeting.

Miraculously, the grenades bounced off their table, at which the then President J R Jayawardene and then PM Ranasinghe Premadasa were sitting. The incident, however, resulted in the death of an MP and a ministry secretary.

The police investigation attributed the attack to a member of the banned Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) organisation, engaged in a rebellion at the time.

Although five JVP members faced trial, they were acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The motive behind the attack was linked to Jayawardene's signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.

2021 US Capitol Attack

In an "unprecedented assault" on January 2021, hundreds of supporters of US's then president Donald Trump stormed the Capitol and clashed with the police to halt the joint session to confirm Trump's rival Joe Biden as winner of the presidential election.

Some broke into lawmakers' offices, and called for the killing of lawmakers and then vice president Mike Pence.

As many as four people died in the incident. In the days and weeks after the riot, five police officers who had served at the Capitol on January 6 died, according to International New York Times.

Oct 2023 Turkish government building attack

Two attackers detonated a bomb in front of Turkish government buildings in Ankara in October, leaving both of them dead and two police officers wounded, and a Kurdish militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, as per Reuters.

The blast killed one of the attackers and authorities "neutralised", or killed, the other, the interior minister said of the incident that rattled a central district that is home to ministerial buildings and nearby parliament.

Authorities called it the first terrorist attack in the capital in years.

1981 Spanish coup attempt

The Spanish Congress of Deputies in Madrid was attacked by members of the armed Civil Guard during an attempted coup on February 23, 1981. The parliamentarians and ministers were held hostage for 18 hours, before they were freed next morning.