‘So lenient’ — Netizens say NYE revellers at raucous Clarke Quay gathering are getting off too lightly

Singapore — The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Monday (Jan 24) that in connection to the raucous Clarke Quay gathering on New Year’s Eve, eight people are now facing legal consequences.

For allegedly breaching several safe management measures, four people from the ages of 19 and 22 will be charged on Jan 25. Another four have been fined $1,000 each for breaching safe management measures. Netizens, however, are questioning the punishment meted out to the revellers.

“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,” the URA said.

The Authority also warned the public to comply with safe management measures and added that agencies will be enforcing these measures in the run-up to upcoming Chinese New Year’s celebrations.

“The authorities will not hesitate to take enforcement action against errant individuals and food and beverage premises,” the URA added.

Videos surfaced shortly after the New Year of a packed gathering of more than a hundred revellers at Clarke Quay on New Year’s Eve.

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.

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-leads the MTF,  told the press on Jan 5 that the revellers “got caught up in the moment” and added that enforcement action would be taken against those who breached safe management measures.

“Our investigations show that this was not an organized 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.

Many netizens commenting on the legal consequences meted out to the revellers seemed to feel that they were getting off lightly.

Others expressed surprise that out of a crowd of such a large size, only eight had received penalties.

/TISG

Read also: Government agencies combing footage of raucous Clarke Quay gathering to ID revellers

Government agencies combing footage of raucous Clarke Quay gathering to ID revelers