KOLKATA: More than one lakh people visited the West Bengal Assembly over the last three days to look at the wreckage left by Trinamool Congress members, who turned violent and caused bedlam both inside and outside the House on Thursday afternoon.

Speaker H.A. Halim on Monday said payment of salaries and allowances to these MLAs would be suspended until the damage was assessed.

Much of the property is of antique value and irreplaceable.

In a rare move, the Assembly gates were opened to the public for six hours every day from Friday to Sunday to see for themselves "how democracy was functioning," in the words of the Speaker. A ledger was kept for the visitors to record their comments.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who visited the House on Saturday, said the act of vandalism "was an insult to the voters," who elected their representatives.

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu demanded "exemplary punishment" for those responsible for the violence.

In the House, which resumed on Monday, proceedings were conducted even as upturned and broken furniture lay strewn in the well.

Two privilege motions were moved — one against the 29 Trinamool MLAs present during Thursday's violence and the other against leader Mamata Banerjee for inciting her party members to create bedlam — separately by the Left Front Chief Whip and a senior MLA of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The motions were admitted and would be referred to the privileges committee, Mr. Halim said.

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