Manhunt Operation to Find Several Suspects in Clarke Quay Riot Ongoing; Dispute Started in a Restaurant

Fights take place every day, but a big and bloody one occurred on Saturday (19 Dec) at Clarke Quay.

The skirmish involved a large group of assailants and an alleged stabbing as well.

Blood was seen all over the area of the clash, which was surrounded by onlookers and police officers.

While some of those involved have since been apprehended, the police are still on the hunt for the other suspects.

And now, more details about the clash have emerged.

Manhunt Operation to Find Several Suspects in Clarke Quay Riot Ongoing; Dispute Started in a Restaurant

The police said the fight had broken out between two groups of people after a dispute in a nearby restaurant, according to preliminary investigations.

Officers were alerted to the massive melee along Eu Tong Sen Street at around 10.40pm on Saturday.

When they arrived at the scene, they found two injured people and attended to them.

A 27-year-old woman and her 36-year-old male companion were conscious when they were conveyed to Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

The police then arrested a 40-year-old man near Carpenter Street for his suspected involvement in the fight, after carrying out on-scene investigations.

He was found hiding at a dark corner of a back alley with injuries, and was also conscious when taken to SGH.

Fortunately, officers from the Central Police Division and the Criminal Investigation Department later managed to establish the identities of some of the other assailants.

Four men, aged between 21 and 34, were subsequently arrested for their suspected involvement in a case of rioting with a deadly weapon.

The rest of the combatants, however, remain at large.

“A manhunt operation is currently underway to arrest the other suspects involved in the case,” police said.

The police reminded the public that such behaviour will not be tolerated.

“The police will not tolerate such brazen acts of violence and blatant disregard of the law.

“We will spare no effort to apprehend such offenders and deal with them in accordance with the law,” they added.

What Happened

Several videos of the massive clash have been shared online, and while none of them provide a clear view of the incident, the screaming and shouting are evidence of the intense dispute.

The video starts out with two groups of people screaming some incoherent but menacing-sounding things at each other.

One bare-bodied man then rushes toward the crowd, and a few moments later, a woman starts shrieking at the top of her lungs: “F**king hell!”, as the bare-bodied man leaves the area.

Our view is blocked by a group of observers who stood in front of the cameraperson, but the alleged stabbing could have taken place at this point.

Another man then comes from nowhere and races to the area of the skirmish, and the bare-bodied man follows him.

The woman screams the whole time, possibly due to the pain of an injury or because someone she knows got badly injured.

Two onlookers jump in to intervene, but it’s unclear what happens next, as the fight happens off-screen

A group of people then leave the area of the fight, and one particularly enraged man shouts some expletives at someone far away from the scene of the incident.

The camera then pans briefly to the area of the fight, where it appears that two people are tending to someone who is laying on the floor, possibly injured from the clash.

You can read more about the fight here. 

Given that a deadly weapon was used, someone could have very easily lost their life in the heat of the skirmish.

Featured Image: Hardware Zone & Facebook (Navin Kumar)