Serial protestor Yan Jun was arrested yesterday afternoon (20 November) around 5:35pm after staging a one-man protest at Raffles Place and refusing to stop after being told to do so by police officers.
TOC understands that Yan had notified various ministries, including the Ministry of Home Affairs around 3:50pm that he will be staging a protest at 5pm the same day. When he commenced his protest, there were no police officers in sight until about 5:30pm. Two police officers approached Yan while other police officers were seen at a distance on standby.
Yan held two signs this time around which read “Singapore’s Legal System is TOTALLY Corrupt!” and “PM LEE AND PAP STEP DOWN”.
In a video showing the protest and subsequent arrest, Yan can be heard saying to the police officers as they handcuffed him, “You should have arrested me half an hour ago”.
Past protests
This is the second time the 43-year-old former research assistant was arrested for protesting this year alone. In March 2019, he faced two charges under the Public Order Act for protesting outside Raffles Place MRT on 28 February.
He was charged with one count of taking part in a public assembly without a permit and one count of disobeying a police officer’s instruction to leave the area. He was also charged for refusing to cooperate with an investigation officer at the Police Cantonment Complex.
The February protest was against Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, Commissioner of Prisons Desmond Chin, and retired Court of Appeal Judge Chao Hick Tin.
Yan had also purportedly displayed a placard calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over what he had allegedly claimed to be “Singapore’s Watergate Scandal and Nepotism”.
And just 10 month before that, he was sentenced to six months and two weeks in jail and fined S$5,000 his one-man protest at Raffles Places which took place on 22 February 2018. In April 2018, Yan was found guilty of three charges: for taking part in a public assembly without a permit outside Raffles Place MRT station, behaving in a disorderly manner for shouting at a police inspector and for refusing to leave the area despite being told to do so.
In sentencing Yan, Judge Tan said: “The accused has apparently shown no remorse whatsoever from the time of his offences, till he was brought to court, and even while his trial was conducted. His abhorrent behaviour has continued, and his disrespect towards persons and institutions of authority has remained unabated.”
Three years ago in 2016, Yan held his protest outside the Istana and near the Supreme Court. A year later, he protested outside the US Embassy and the British High Commission. He also protested outside the Raffles Place MRT station for which he was sentenced to three weeks in jail and S$2,000 fine.
In that protest, Yan had accused PM Lee and Judge Chao of orchestrating the seizure of Singapore Armed Forces Terrex infantry carrier vehicles by Hong Kong authorities in 2016. His protest was a demand for the PM’s resignation.
