Tripura police have arrested seven persons and suspended three cops in connection with the security breach at the Bangladesh assistant high commission in Agartala on Monday afternoon during a protest against the atrocities on minorities in the neighbouring country.

The arrested persons are suspected to be part of the group of protesters that stormed the commission’s premises despite the presence of security personnel and, according to Bangladesh’s ministry of foreign affairs, indulged in “vandalisation of the Mission premise and desecration of the (Bangladesh) Flag”.

A Tripura police officer told The Telegraph: “Three police personnel — two sub-inspectors and a sergeant — have been suspended for negligence of duty while a DSP has been closed (withdrawn from duty). This was decided last night. The arrested persons have been booked under multiple sections of the BNS, including trespassing, rioting and using force against public servants on duty.”

The police clampdown came within hours of the Union ministry of external affairs (MEA) issuing a statement “deeply regretting” the “breach of premises at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala”.

The MEA statement added: “Diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances. The government is taking action to step up security arrangements for the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and their Deputy/ Assistant High Commissions in the country.”

Monday’s protest outside the assistant high commission in Agartala was staged against the targeting of minorities in Bangladesh, including the November 25 arrest of the monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was previously associated with Iskcon. Protests
are being held in Agartala and other parts of Tripura since November 26.

The police officer said a section of protesters breached the security barricade outside the commission office but could not enter the main office building.

“They entered the premises, shouted slogans and removed the Bangladesh national flag, but were promptly driven away by the security personnel posted there. Security in and around the assistant high commission has been tightened. Security has also been beefed up at the land port on the Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) border following a Bangladesh Chalo Abhiyan that Right-wing groups were to hold on Tuesday. The police denied permission for the protest,” the officer said.

Tripura is among the four northeastern states that share a border with Bangladesh.

In just over an hour of the MEA issuing a statement on X expressing regret, Bangladesh’s ministry of foreign affairs took to the same platform to convey that it “deeply resents the violent attack” on the assistant high commission. The Bangladesh ministry accused “the protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity of Agartala” of “vandalisation of the Mission premise and desecration of the (Bangladesh) Flag”.

The statement said: “The accounts received conclusively attest that the protesters were allowed to aggress into the premises by breaking down barriers at the main gate of the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in a pre-planned manner. In the process, in the presence of the members of the local law enforcement agencies, they vandalised the flag pole, desecrated the national flag of Bangladesh and also damaged properties inside the Assistant High Commission.”

The Bangladesh ministry claimed that the local police personnel “in charge of protecting the premises were found not to be active in containing the situation from the beginning”, leaving the members of the assistant high commission “with a deep sense of insecurity”.

According to the ministry, the attack on the mission and the “desecration” of the Bangladesh national flag “comes in a pattern, further to a similar violent demonstration in Kolkata” on November 28. It said the Agartala attack “stands in violation of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, asks for”.

The Bangladesh government has called upon the Indian government “to take immediate action to address this incident, to undertake a thorough investigation into the incident and to prevent any further acts of violence against the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh in India, including the safety and security of diplomats and the non-diplomatic members of staff and members of their families”, the statement said.

Although the situation was normal in Agartala on Tuesday, there were protests in neighbouring Assam’s Dhubri, Guwahati and Silchar against the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

Organised by the Guwahati District Congress Committee, party members burnt the effigy of foreign minister S. Jaishankar.“The targeting of minorities in Bangladesh is a reflection of the failure of the Neighbourhood First policy pursued by the Centre,” a state Congress member said.