File photo of the Little India Riot in Singapore
A 24-year-old Indian was yesterday sentenced to 31 months in jail and three strokes of cane for rioting and abetting others during the Little India riots, becoming the 18th Indian to be jailed for his involvement in the country's worst street violence in 40 years.
Prabakaran Chinnappa, a construction worker in Singapore, was sentenced to 31 months in jail and three strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to rioting, and abetting others to set fire to an ambulance, The Straits Times reported.
Chinnappawas convicted for hitting an empty police car repeatedly with a stick and helping flip the vehicle onto its side, the report said.
He also threw pieces of paper into the car after it had been set on fire to feed the flames, and later threw a glass bottle at police, it reported.
He was also charged for repeatedly hitting an empty ambulance with a stick and threw a beer carton into it.
He then shouted for others to "hit, hit, burn, burn" and told some rioters to pour petrol on the vehicle, it said.
Fifty-eight police and defence officers were injured and 23 emergency vehicles damaged in the riot on the night of December 8, 2013 in Little India, a precinct of Indian origin shops, businesses, pubs, eateries, hotels and motels.
The riot was sparked by the death of an Indian national in an accident with a local bus amidst a gathering of some 400 migrant workers from South Asia.