Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ordered an inquiry into Singapore's first violent riot in four decades. The riot dealt with people's consternation over the reliance on foreign workers in the city state, Bloomberg reported.
"There is no excuse for such violent and criminal behavior," Lee said in a statement on Monday.
The "riot, which broke out on [Sunday night] in the Little India district after a traffic accident, involved about 400 people," the police force said.
Police reportedly "arrested 24 Indian nationals, 2 Bangladeshi nationals and a Singaporean permanent resident, it said. About 300 officers responded to the riot with 22 police officers and 5 auxiliary officers hurt, the police said, adding that all the officers were later released from hospital," Bloomberg reported.
"The violence began after a bus ran over and killed a 33-year-old Indian national worker, Deputy Commissioner of Police T. Raja Kumar said last night in a briefing. The bus driver, a 55-year-old Singaporean, has been arrested for causing death by negligent act and is assisting with investigations, the police said in a separate statement on Facebook on Monday.
Vehicles damaged during the riot, including 16 police vehicles, were removed, the police said. "The situation was brought under control within an hour and officers did not fire any weapons during the incident, the police said in an earlier statement on Facebook," Bloomberg also reported.
The violence on Sunday night was reminiscent of race riots, which took place in 1964 where 36 people were killed. Clashes between the Chinese and Malay communities "culminated in race riots in 1969 in Malaysia, which spilled briefly into Singapore. After the violence of the 1960s the Singapore government imposed curbs on public assembly," Bloomberg also reported.
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