Singapore books 24 Indians, bans booze in Little India

The Singapore police said 24 people are to be charged in court today in relation to the riot in the 'Little India' district on Sunday night. All 24 are Indian nationals.

They were among the 28 people arrested in the riot, including 25 Indian nationals, two Bangladeshi nationals and a Singapore Permanent Resident. Subsequent police investigations showed that the Singapore Permanent Resident, the two Bangladeshi nationals and one Indian national were not involved in the incident.

Sale and consumption of alcohol will be banned this coming weekend in Little India's Race Course Road, where the riot broke out after an accident in which an Indian national was killed by a bus.

Announcing the ban on Monday, Second Minister for Home Affairs S Iswaran said details of the ban, such as exactly what time it would apply and what geographical area it would cover, would be worked out by the police.

The riot, the first the country has seen in 44 years, broke out after the fatal bus accident at the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road. Some 400 people were said to be involved in the rioting.

On Monday evening, police gave details of the accident that sparked off Sunday's trouble. They said 33-year-old construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu was intoxicated, and had boarded the private bus, which was believed to be ferrying foreign workers to a dormitory.

With the help of a 38-year-old Singaporean woman who handles transport arrangements for foreign workers between their dormitories and Little India, the man was taken off the bus as he was causing trouble.

Police said the driver heard a loud bang on the left side of his bus as he was turning onto Race Course Road and on alighting, found Sakthivel underneath the bus, near the left rear tyre of the private bus.

There was a crowd of about 100 men at the scene, but they were not aggressive when police arrived on receiving a report on the accident.

Singapore Civil Defence officers who tried to extricate the body from underneath the bus were hindered by the crowd that had by now become "boisterous".

Police and SCDF officers had to form a shield to protect the officers working to extricate the victim.

By the time they managed to recover Sakthivel's body at about 10 pm, the crowd had started assaulting the bus driver and woman time-keeper, by throwing bottles and dustbins at the bus.

The Indian High Commission in Singapore on Monday appealed for calm after the death of Kuravelu who was from Tamil Nadu.

''The Singapore authorities have confirmed the identity of the Indian national who died in an accident in Little India on Sunday. The High Commission has informed the family members,'' said a statement from the Indian High Commission.