India assures support to its workers in Singapore post riot

The trouble started after a private bus fatally knocked down an Indian pedestrian, 33-year-old Sakthivel Kuaravelu, around 9:20pm at the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road in Little India.

Around 400 South Asian migrant workers were involved in the rampage that left 39 police and civil defence staff injured and 25 vehicles—including 16 police cars—damaged or burnt.

Singapore previously witnessed violence of such scale during race riots in 1969.

After visiting Indian workers at a dormitory last night, Singh said no discontentment has been discerned among Indians working in Singapore.

But she noted concerns of some individuals related to wages, benefits and compensation.

Four more Indians were charged yesterday for alleged rioting in Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, eateries and pubs where most of the South Asian workers take their Sunday break, taking the total number of those arraigned in the violence to 31. 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned that trouble-makers will be dealt with “severely”.