Print

Mail

wiki links

Singaporean police arrest six at protest

Singaporean police rounded up six people at an opposition party rally on Saturday for holding an unauthorized protest against the rising cost of living in the city-state.

Police took away Chee Soon Juan (徐順全), secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, senior party member Chee Siok Chin, and at least four others after they led a group of about two dozen in a protest outside Parliament House.

About 20 protesters wearing red T-shirts that said Tak Boleh Tahan -- which means "Cannot Take It" in Bahasa Malay -- gathered outside the building, holding placards and shouting slogans.

Singapore's annual inflation rate hit a 25-year high of 6.6 percent in January with food prices rising 5.8 percent in that month from a year earlier.

"We want to draw attention to these unbearable price hikes," Chee said.

"Our objective is to continue to encourage Singaporeans to speak up," he said.

Protests in Singapore are rare and an assembly of five or more people requires a permit from the police.

According to a witness, about 10 plainclothes police surrounded the protesters and took Chee and 11 others into custody, following a tense 15-minute standoff that drew crowds of curious onlookers and tourists. Most of the protesters were dragged into waiting police vans.

"The protest was an escalation in the level of defiance" by the group, the police said in a statement issued late on Saturday.

"Chee has persisted to advocate civil disobedience and street politics as the means for political action in Singapore. In so doing, he disregards the law," the statement said.

A police spokesman said that he could not confirm what charges the protesters faced as investigations were ongoing.
This story has been viewed 1206 times.