December 8: On This Day in World History … briefly
In a police statement released to the media on December 9, it was specified that of those arrested, 24 were migrant labourers from India, two were migrant labourers from Bangladesh and one was a Singaporean permanent resident.
2013: Riots break out in Singapore
The 2013 Little India riot took place on 8 December 2013 after a fatal accident occurred at SST 21:23 at the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road in Little India, Singapore, causing angry mobs of passersby to attack the bus involved and emergency vehicles that had by then arrived at the location. About 300 migrant labourers were involved in the riot which lasted for around two hours. This was the second riot in post-independence Singapore, and the first in 44 years since the 1969 race riots.
The riot continued for approximately two hours, and the situation was brought under control before midnight. Officers from the Special Operations Command (SOC) and Gurkha Contingent were deployed. An estimated 300 police officers were dispatched to deal with the rioting. A witness reported that rioters at the scene were intoxicated with alcohol and threw beer bottles. By 23:45, all rioters had dispersed to surrounding areas.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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