Two Bangladesh nationals, arrested in Singapore after Sunday night’s rioting in ‘Little India’, had been let off after being found innocent, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
The Bangladesh mission in Singapore has rubbished some media reports back home suggesting Bangladeshi workers’ played a role in the violence.
The mission dubbed the reports “unsubstantiated and speculative”.
Trouble had begun after a private bus ran over a pedestrian around 9.20pm at the Race Course Road and Hampshire Road crossing.
Rioting began soon afterwards, involving a 400-strong mob, Singapore media reported earlier.
At least 18 people, including 10 police officers and four Singapore Civil Defence Force personnel, were injured, and dozens, two Bangladeshis among them, were arrested.
The Bangladesh High Commissioner Mahbubuz Zaman had appealed to the Bangladeshi community to remain calm and restraint and cooperate fully with the law-enforcing agencies.
He had said the community was duty bound to help the authorities to maintain the rule of law.
Zaman had also dismissed reports that the violence was fuelled by an accident involving a Bangladeshi worker, saying the reports were not based on facts.
A section of Bangladeshi newspapers also carried the news about the purported involvement of Bangladeshi workers in the incident.
However, Singapore’s Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam earlier hailed the Bangladesh mission for issuing the statement.
In a post on his Facebook wall shortly before noon on Monday, Shanmugam said he was glad for the statement and that “the rioters need to be dealt with in accordance with the law”.
Source: Bd news24
