Desmond Lee, the Minister for Social and Family Development said that seven residents of Singapore Boys' Home, aged between 14 and 17 were arrested and charged for rioting with weapons on Saturday morning.
Police arrested total 14 boys on Friday night for rioting. While seven of them were released on Saturday, rest seven were charged in court. As these residents of the home, located in Jurong West, are juvenile, the identities of the alleged offenders were not revealed.
This home is a residence of juveniles and run by the Ministry of Social and Family Development. The home is responsible to take care of the young people aged between 12 and 21, who might have faced trouble with the law.
However, the minister added that two male employees of the home, who are youth guidance officers and an auxiliary police officer were taken to the Ng Teng Fong Hospital, located at Jurong East Street. The auxiliary police officer and one of the home's employees, who suffered minor injuries were discharged, while the other officer is still in the hospital for further observation.
The bedridden officer spoke about the sidelines of a turtle hatchery launch in Sisters' Island on Saturday.
Minister Lee stated that after some sports activities in an open yard at Singapore Boys' Home, a mass disturbance was witnessed and "from what we understand, some of our officers were assaulted using sports equipment."
He also added that the police, along with Singapore Boys' Home officers managed the situation and it was brought under control by about 7 pm. Reports stated, almost 15 police vehicles including 10 police bikes were seen at the location of the incident.
As per the minister, such incidents are not rare at this kind of institutions but as per the protocol, the authority must call police "to help to ensure that order is restored and the facility locked down," and "for every (one) of these incidents, we will undertake a review of what happened."
In addition, the minister stated that the home, as well as the ministry, will work together, along with the police and the Home Team over the on-going investigation on the riot.
