Romanian police hunt man who started fire inside parliament

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BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian police were looking for a man who started a fire inside the country’s parliament building on Tuesday which caused hundreds of people to be evacuated but no casualties.

Police said the man threw a flammable liquid and set light to it after getting into an argument near an exhibition hall inside the building.

The incident has raised concerns over security, although police said the argument appeared to be spontaneous and not politically motivated.

The exhibition hall was outside the security checkpoint. Up to 300 people were evacuated, but the man managed to run away, police said.

“It was a spontaneous action,” a police spokesman told reporters. “The person did not throw the flammable substance at other people, just at assets.”

Romania’s parliament is one of the world’s biggest administrative buildings. It was built in the 1980s on the orders of late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who demolished large swathes of Bucharest’s historic centre to make room for it.

It is now home to the lower house and the Senate, as well as the Constitutional Court, several other state institutions and three museums.