A heated argument between a group of diners and a social distancing officer broke out at the Lau Pa Sat food center as tighter gathering restrictions kicked off Saturday.
A dispute about the size of their group – now reduced to a maximum of five instead of eight – has gone viral since it was caught on tape spreading online since yesterday. The nearly three-minute-long video now under police investigation shows a group screaming and questioning an officer about the rules, telling him that they were sitting across different tables.
“The regulation today is cannot accept more than five. If more than five, you cannot split [the] table,” the officer, who was wearing an ambassador’s lanyard, was heard telling two men – one of whom later screamed at the officer, declining to listen to him.
“Who are you to ask me to listen to you!” the man in grey shouted, pointing his finger at the officer’s face. A woman’s voice could be heard off-camera.
“Ownself take video of ownself breaking Safe Distancing Measures and abusing a public officer just doing his job. That is self-pwn indeed. We are in 5-pax per table mode this month lah bodoh,” Singaporean blogger Lee Kin Mun, more commonly known as Mr. Brown, reacted to the video today.
Ownself take video of ownself breaking Safe Distancing Measures and abusing a public officer just doing his job. That is self-pwn indeed. #hellopolis
We are in 5-pax per table mode this month lah bodoh. pic.twitter.com/tKdClGm10P
— mrbrown (@mrbrown) May 10, 2021
Police told reporters that they were alerted to the incident on Saturday night and were investigating it.
Singapore reimposed the second phase of its coronavirus rules on Saturday, bringing back the five-person limit for social gatherings. The tighter restrictions come amid a new wave of coronavirus infections, with the biggest cluster concentrated at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Twenty-eight new infections were reported yesterday by the Health Ministry. Singapore has reported 61,359 cases since the outbreak began last year and 31 deaths.
Other stories you should check out:
10-year passports returning to Singapore in October
Brunch and get day drunk in condo-like luxury at Siri House
Lease dispute could mean lights out for Singapore’s ‘Nox Dine in the Dark’
