24 Indian workers will be prosecuted by Singapore Government participating in the city-state’s first riot in more than 40 years, police said Tuesday. The authorities have called for peace and warned against racial bashing.
The men face jail terms of up to 10 years plus caning for the hour-long fracas on Sunday night, triggered when an Indian construction worker was struck and killed by a private bus in a district known as Little India.
There were about 400 people involved in the rampage that left 39 police and civil defence staff injured and 25 vehicles including 16 police cars were damaged
According to the police, The 55-year-old Singaporean bus driver who knocked down and killed construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu, 33, has been released on bail after being arrested on charges of causing death by a negligent act, they said.
The riot resulted in a social network outburst with foreign bashing.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has appealed for Singaporeans not to to allow the incident to tarnish their views of the foreign worker community in the city-state.
“The riot was an isolated incident arising from the unlawful actions of an unruly mob reacting to a fatal traffic accident,” he said in a statement Monday.
Lee also ordered the formation of a special committee to review the factors that led to the riot, as well as existing measures to manage areas where foreign workers congregate.
