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Singapore shocked by worst riots in decades, as migrant workers vent anger Singapore shocked by worst riots in decades, as migrant workers vent anger
(35 minutes later)
About 400 south Asian migrant workers angered by a road accident battled police and set vehicles ablaze in Singapore's worst rioting in decades, leaving 18 people injured, officials said on Monday. A crowd of about 400 people set fire to vehicles and clashed with police in the Indian district of Singapore late on Sunday after a man was hit and killed by a bus, the first major riot in the city-state for more than 40 years.
The violence erupted in the city-state's crowded Little India neighbourhood on Sunday night after an Indian worker was hit and killed by a private bus driven by a Singaporean, police and government authorities told a news conference. Police said they had arrested 27 suspects after the riot, which started after a private bus hit and killed a 33-year-old Indian national in the Little India area.
Police arrested 27 people, some of whom hurled bottles and other projectiles at authorities who tried to calm the scene, police commissioner Ng Joo Hee said. Those hurt included 10 police officers and four defence force personnel. The riot is likely to fuel concerns about discontent among low-paid foreign workers. Last year, Singapore saw its biggest outbreak of labour unrest in years when around 170 bus drivers from mainland China went on strike illegally.
Channel News Asia showed images of burning vehicles, police cars flipped on their side and people attacking the windshield of a bus with sticks and garbage bins. It said this was the worst such unrest in more than 40 years in Singapore. Several videos posted online showed a crowd of people smashing the windscreen of the bus while the victim remained trapped under the vehicle.
Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong warned that authorities would "spare no effort to identify the culprits and deal with them with the full force of the law". Footage on Channel NewsAsia showed several vehicles in flames and debris strewn across Racecourse Road, one of the main thoroughfares in Little India. Many other private cars were reported to have been damaged.
"Whatever events may have sparked the rioting, there is no excuse for such violent, destructive and criminal behaviour," Lee wrote in a statement on his Facebook page early on Monday. Police said the 27 arrested were of south Asian origin and that they expected to make more arrests in coming days. About 300 officers were sent on to the streets to quell the riot.
The violence sparked debate among Singaporeans on social media about overcrowding and the increasing number of migrant workers hired for Singapore's construction sector and menial jobs. A statement by the Civil Defence Force (CDF), which oversees ambulances and fire fighting, said rescuers trying to remove the body had "projectiles" thrown at them when they arrived on the scene.
Little India has a large population of Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Nepali expatriates. On Sundays, the area is especially crowded with south Asian workers. Footage showed police cars being flipped over and several vehicles on fire. The CDF said an ambulance, three police cars and a motorbike were burnt.
The Singapore police force said the violence started following the bus accident.
"Shortly after, a riot broke out involving a crowd of about 400 subjects," it said in a statement, adding that about 10 police officers were injured.
Singapore police force commissioner Ng Joo Hee said: "As far as we know now, there was no Singaporean involved in the riot.
"The unwanted violence, rioting, destruction of property, fighting the police, is not the Singapore way," Ng said.
Little India is usually packed with people on Sundays, with many construction workers from Bangladesh and India gathering there to spend their day off.
Singapore has not seen a riot on this scale since 1969, when Chinese and Malay residents clashed violently. The country has tough laws on rioting that carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison and possible caning.
The prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, in a Facebook post, called the riot a "very grave incident".
"Whatever events may have sparked the rioting, there is no excuse for such violent, destructive, and criminal behaviour. We will spare no effort to identify the culprits and deal with them with the full force of the law," he wrote.
The riots came on the same day that Singapore's ruling party adopted a new resolution, the first since 1988, about its social aims.
The eight-point statement from the People's Action Party included a resolve to strengthen the Singaporean identity in which people of different races, religions and backgrounds "live harmoniously together, embrace one another as fellow citizens and work together for a better Singapore".
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