The riot began after an Indian worker was hit and killed by a bus in Little India district

Dec 9, 2013 21:11 GMT  ·  By

This kind of violence is rare for a country like Singapore and foreign workers rioting over a hit and run are not common anywhere in the world. The violence sparked after an Indian worker was hit and killed by a bus, but the cause of the protest may be deeper than that.

Hundreds of workers from Singapore's Little India district took to the streets torching cars and attacking police officers in an unbelievable outbreak of violence on Sunday. Over 400 people were in the neighborhood, injuring almost a dozen law enforcement officers and causing damages in the area, according to the tweets posted on #LittleIndiaRiot.

The streets were filled with rubbish and cars on fire while explosion sounds and screams took over the place. Panic spread as the riot grew in force after the fatal car accident involving the Indian worker. As the name suggests, the Little Indian district is mainly populated by Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Nepali expatriates.

These incidents are rare in Singapore and the ones found guilty of rioting are severely punished, “whatever events may have sparked the rioting, there is no excuse for such violent, destructive and criminal behavior. We will spare no effort to identify the culprits and deal with them with the full force of law,” the country's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stated on Twitter.

The main reason of the riot appears to be the workers' discontent with the low wages for foreigners and the fatal accident involving the Indian man was just a pretext to start the violence. Even if the riot was stopped and the situation is now said to be under control, such protests are not silenced so quickly.

Besides the police officers injured in an attempt to control the crowds, the riot left behind several burning vehicles, shattered windows and debris on the streets. Officials stated they would prosecute all those found guilty of such horrible, criminal acts of disturbance.