Riot in Little India

 

One word to describe this picture is chaos.

On 9 December 2014, a riot involved about 400 people broke out around 9.30pm. The police said 27 South Asians have been arrested. More could be hauled in as investigations continue. In total, there were 18 casualties including 10 police officers, four Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel, as well as the coach driver and his assistant. Six remained at Tan Tock Seng hospital overnight but their conditions were not so serious, the authorities said. 

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The Gathering of the Workers 

Since immigrant workers are viewed somewhat as a 'outcast' in Singapore, many foreign workers only have their colleagues as friends. After a long stressful week at work, they usually go to Little India to relieve their stress. Since many of them usually get drunk, there is often rowdiness among the crowd. Thus, a small event like may trigger the crowd to do something rash.

Benefits of gathering of the workers:

1) Since the weekends at Little a India with their friends is often the only source of recreation for these foreign workers, it keeps them in Singapore, ensuring that there is no lack of blue collar workers here.

2) Allowing them to hang out at Little India would be something the immigrants look forward to, and thus this may keep them focused at work, ensuring higher productivity when they work.

Disadvantages of gathering of the workers:

1) Since many of the workers get drunk and become intoxicated, they often carry out rash acts on the spur of the moment without thinking about the consequences. This may result in fights or arguments etc., or maybe even riots as seen from this incident.

2) With such a large crowd, law enforcers may take a long time to restore order should the crowd show unruly behavior.