A fiery clash between a food handler and two safe distancing ambassadors (SDA) took a turn for the worse when one of the SDAs asked for the woman’s IC — not to take down her details, but to verify her gender.
Police investigations are ongoing after the food handler showed “signs of aggression” towards the two SDAs, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) noted in a statement today (July 24).
The altercation was captured on camera by the food handler, Asyurah Roslan, and uploaded to Facebook on July 21 where it has garnered over 18,000 views as of the time of writing.
Image source: Facebook screengrab
The five-minute-long clip showed Asyurah confronting two SDAs near a coffee shop located at 60 Changi Road after one of them was allegedly rude to her.
Referring to the SDAs as “social distancing officers”, Asyurah filmed the pair from a distance before approaching them.
“From just now, I listen to you. The way you actually approach people is very rude,” she said to the first SDA.
The second SDA appeared to mistakenly refer to her as “sir” while attempting to defuse the situation, to which Asyurah retorted, “I’m a woman, okay? I’m a woman, not sir.”
Turning back to the first SDA, Asyurah alleged that she had been rude to her earlier and asked her for an explanation.
The SDA took umbrage at her tone and fired back: “You don’t shout at me.”
“I can shout, I scream at you for all I care!” Asyurah replied.
The SDA then said, “Show me your IC that you’re a girl.”
This set Asyurah off and she raised her voice, asking if the SDA was trying to insult her and threatened to “sue [her] in the court of law”.
She also appeared to hit the second SDA’s phone out of her hands.
She then retrieved her IC from a vehicle parked a short distance away before showing it to the SDAs and telling them that the video would be uploaded to Facebook.
According to SFA, the SDAs had observed that several food handlers at the coffee shop were not wearing their masks properly.
The food handlers complied with their reminders to wear their masks properly and no enforcement action was taken.
However, as Asyurah “persisted in following and filming the SDAs” and “showed signs of aggression”, the SDAs called the police for assistance.
“While SFA understands that some food handlers may find it uncomfortable to wear masks while working, it is important for everyone to wear a mask correctly when outside of their homes,” the agency said.
It did not comment on Asyurah’s allegations or the SDA’s request to see her IC.
SDAs from various public agencies have been deployed since April to guide businesses and individuals to comply with safe distancing measures.
Since then, there have been multiple reports of physical or verbal abuse against enforcement officers and ambassadors.
Last week, a 30-year-old man was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after throwing an ice cream stick and unused face masks at two safe distancing enforcement officers and shouting vulgarities at them.
Those convicted of using abusive language against a public servant face a fine of up to $5,000, up to 12 months’ jail or both.
For voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from the discharge of their duty, offenders face up to seven years’ imprisonment, a fine or caning.
Offenders who use criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of their duty could be jailed for up to four years, fined or both.
Note: The video is no longer available on Facebook.
This article was first published in AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
Lead image source: Facebook screengrab
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