Singapore — Video clips of a large crowd of partygoers who gathered at Clarke Quay on New Year’s Eve went viral earlier this month, prompting backlash from many.
Several of the revellers have already begun to face legal consequences for breaching Covid-19 measures, with a man who donned a superhero costume that evening facing an additional charge.
The Multi-Ministry Task Force (MTF) overseeing measures to deal with the pandemic highlighted “blatant breaches” of safe management measures at the gathering and called it a “potential super spreading” event.
On Monday (Jan 24), the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced that eight people have already had to face the music. Four were fined $1,000 each for breaching safe management measures.
Another four were charged on Tuesday for failing to wear a mask covering their noses and mouths, as well as for failing to keep a safe distance of at least one metre from others during the gathering.
And one of them just happened to be dressed as Spider-Man.
The four men charged on Jan 25 are all between 19 and 22. They are William Alexander Brooks-Potts, Verma Pulkit, Kotra Venkata Sai Rohankrishna, and Harjaz Singh.
Kotra, who was dressed as Spider-Man, faces an additional charge of attending the gathering while in costume, yahoo!news reported.
He is also reported to have interacted with about 20 others for taking pictures and recording interviews on video.
But this does mean the others are off the hook.
Verma and Singh may also be charged in relation to social gatherings when they next appear in court on Feb 8, the report added.
If the four are convicted, they could face up to six months’ jail and a fine of as much as $10,000.
The URA added on Monday that “Further investigations into other individuals are ongoing, and enforcement action will be taken against them if they are found to have breached any safe management measures, which are put in place to protect the public.”
It also warns people to comply with safe management measures and added that agencies will enforce these measures in the run-up to Chinese New Year.
“The authorities will not hesitate to take enforcement action against errant individuals and food and beverage premises,” the URA added.
Videos surfaced shortly after Jan 1, showing a packed gathering of more than a hundred people partying at Clarke Quay on New Year’s Eve.
Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-leads the MTF, had said on Jan 5 that the revellers “got caught up in the moment” and that enforcement action would be taken against those who breached safe management measures.
“Our investigations show that this was not an organised event. What happened was that people started gathering together, they got caught up in the moment, and soon we have a crowd of more than one hundred people at that location with many flouting the rules,” Mr Wong said.
/TISG
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