SINGAPORE: Singapore on Friday said it had deported 53 South Asian workers allegedly involved in the city-state’s first riot in four decades, while four others awaited repatriation.

Officials on Tuesday had said they were deporting the 53 men — 52 Indians and one Bangladeshi — and pursuing criminal charges against 28 others for their role in the Dec 8 rampage.

The rare riot left 39 persons, including police officers, injured and 25 vehicles damaged or burnt.

It was triggered after an Indian construction worker was fatally hit by a bus in a district known as Little India, where tens of thousands of South Asian labourers converge on weekends.

In a statement on Friday evening, police commissioner Ng Joo Hee said the 53 men originally slated for deportation had already been sent to their home countries after receiving police warnings and immigration removal orders.

Four other Indian nationals who were released on Tuesday after criminal charges were withdrawn will also be repatriated after being served with police warnings, Ng said.

No reasons were given for the decision to deport the four additional men after their release from police custody.

“When the last of these four are removed, bringing the total number repatriated to 57, the repatriation operation arising from police investigations into the Little India riots will, more or less, come to an end,” Ng said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier stated that the men being deported were deemed to have threatened public order for failing to disperse despite police orders.—AFP