SINGAPORE — The 24 suspects who were arrested in connection with Sunday’s riot looked sombre yesterday as their charges were read out to them in court. The accused Indian nationals arrived at the Subordinate Courts in three police vans at around 9am, but only appeared in court more than five hours later. One of them had a bandage around his head.

They had purportedly thrown pieces of cement at police officers who were trying to maintain law and order in the Race Course Road area between 9.20pm and 10.45pm on Sunday.

The case has been adjourned and will be mentioned again on Dec 17. The 24 men will continue to be remanded at the Police Cantonment Complex for further investigation.

A commotion also broke out yesterday between a lawyer and an activist outside the courtroom.

It began while the first 12 men were being led out after their charges had been read. Lawyer Amarick Gill of the Law Society’s Pro Bono Services Office stood up and asked for permission to inform all the accused that it was working to secure legal representation for them through its Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS).

The judge allowed it and called the men back to tell them about it.

When Mr Gill spoke to reporters outside the courtroom afterwards, civil activist Vincent Wijeysingha approached him and started questioning him.

He asked if the Law Society had put itself forward to represent the men “to prevent activist lawyers such as M Ravi from taking up the case”.

Although Mr Gill kept reiterating that CLAS was only reaching out to the accused, Dr Wijeysingha asked repeatedly if it was still “possible”, to which Mr Gill replied in exasperation: “Anything is possible.”

Separately, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said it is working with the Indian High Commissioner to facilitate legal representation for all the suspects involved in the case.

If convicted, the 24 accused face up to seven years’ imprisonment and caning. Amir Hussain