Two women warned for making 'inflammatory' race-related comments on Facebook: Police
SINGAPORE: Two Singaporean women were on Friday (Jul 6) issued a warning for making inflammatory comments online, after they posted remarks on Facebook alleging that members of one race looked down on people of another race.
The women, both 28 years old, were investigated for posting comments that were "prejudicial to the maintenance of racial and religious harmony in Singapore", said the police in a news release.
AdvertisementThe Facebook comments were sparked by an incident in October 2017, when the two women were spotted praying at a fire escape stairwell of a shopping mall.
According to the police, the security personnel who found the women had waited for them to finish their prayers before explaining that the fire escape stairwell needed to be kept unobstructed for safety reasons.
The security personnel advised the women to pray in a designated prayer room in the vicinity.
However, the women returned to the same stairwell the next day to conduct their prayers.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"When a security personnel again advised them to use the designated prayer room, one of them demanded to meet the security supervisor, and subsequently accused the supervisor of being racist by disallowing them to pray there," the police said.
"After the encounter, the two women posted remarks on Facebook alleging that members of one race looked down on members of another race."
The police added: "The allegations the two women made were serious, but baseless. Such allegations can over time affect our racial and religious harmony. Obstructing a fire escape stairwell is also serious."
A decision was made, in consultation with the Attorney-General Chambers, to issue the women with a 12-month conditional warning, for the offences of making inflammatory comments online and for criminal trespass.
"Police decided to exercise discretion in their favour and administer a warning instead of prosecuting them," said authorities.
The offences will be resurfaced for consideration if they re-offend within the 12-month period.
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SINGAPORE: Two Singaporean women were on Friday (Jul 6) issued a warning for making inflammatory comments online, after they posted remarks on Facebook alleging that members of one race looked down on people of another race.
The women, both 28 years old, were investigated for posting comments that were "prejudicial to the maintenance of racial and religious harmony in Singapore", said the police in a news release.
AdvertisementThe Facebook comments were sparked by an incident in October 2017, when the two women were spotted praying at a fire escape stairwell of a shopping mall.
According to the police, the security personnel who found the women had waited for them to finish their prayers before explaining that the fire escape stairwell needed to be kept unobstructed for safety reasons.
The security personnel advised the women to pray in a designated prayer room in the vicinity.
However, the women returned to the same stairwell the next day to conduct their prayers.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"When a security personnel again advised them to use the designated prayer room, one of them demanded to meet the security supervisor, and subsequently accused the supervisor of being racist by disallowing them to pray there," the police said.
"After the encounter, the two women posted remarks on Facebook alleging that members of one race looked down on members of another race."
The police added: "The allegations the two women made were serious, but baseless. Such allegations can over time affect our racial and religious harmony. Obstructing a fire escape stairwell is also serious."
A decision was made, in consultation with the Attorney-General Chambers, to issue the women with a 12-month conditional warning, for the offences of making inflammatory comments online and for criminal trespass.
"Police decided to exercise discretion in their favour and administer a warning instead of prosecuting them," said authorities.
The offences will be resurfaced for consideration if they re-offend within the 12-month period.
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