Object size: Refer to parts
This image is part of the "Riot Recollections" (2013) series by documentary photographer Zakaria Zainal and writer Prabhu Silvam. It consists of portraits of eye-witnesses and their accounts of the riot that struck Little India on 8 December 2013 — the worst outbreak of violence Singapore had experienced in four decades since the outbreak of communal riots in the 1960s. The incident, sparked by a fatal accident involving a migrant worker at the junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road, injured 54 officers and 8 civilians and damaged 30 vehicles.Hitting the ground fresh a week after the incident, Zakaria and Prabhu sought to better understand what provoked the outpouring of anger by adopting the "vox populi" approach. Depicted here is Saathya Kumar, a 28-year-old cook from Komala Vilas who witnessed how tensions and emotions ran high in a crowd after the traffic accident at a quarter past 9 p.m. As the chaos escalated, his restaurant manager drew the shutters while diners and staff made their way to safety. Returning to work the following morning, Saathya was astonished at the clean and empty stretch of road that contrasted with the turmoil that unfolded the previous night.