Singapore riot: 200 foreign workers get police advisories

Two hundred foreign workers, including Indians, on Sunday received advisories from Singapore police for alleged involvement in the worst street violence here in 40 years.

The workers started arriving at the Police Cantonment Complex at 10 am to receive police advisories at the Criminal Investigation Department. The development came two days after 56 Indians and a Bangladeshi were deported from Singapore for alleged involvement in the riot in Little India, a precinct of Indian-origin businesses, eateries and pubs where most South Asian workers take their Sunday break.

While a police warning is usually issued "in place of prosecution" and indicates that an offence may have been committed, an advisory is given to those who have not committed offences, and face no further action, The Straits Times quoted Commissioner of Police Ng Joo Hee as saying. He had earlier said those set to receive the advisories had played "a passive and incidental" role during the riot, compared with the ones who have been deported.

Three other Indian nationals, who had charges against them dropped, will be given advisories together with the 200-odd other workers. All of them will be allowed to stay and work in Singapore, Ng said last week, adding that their employers will have to be present with the workers during the process.

"We want the employer to be present as a witness. "The advice is given to the guest worker, so he has to acknowledge that he has received it," Ng said, adding that the advisory will be given both orally and in written form.

Meanwhile, the 28 Indians charged with rioting are set to make an appearance in court on Monday after being remanded for investigations. The trouble started after a private bus fatally knocked down an Indian pedestrian, 33-year-old Sakthivel Kuaravelu, in Little India.

Some 400 migrant workers were involved in the rampage that left 39 police and civil defence staff injured and 25 vehicles - including 16 police cars - damaged. Singapore previously witnessed violence on such a scale during race riots in 1969.