Activist Gilbert Goh attended a police interview at Bedok Police Station on Tuesday (11 May) in relation to an ongoing investigation by the police for partaking in a public assembly without a permit after holding up a placard outside the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building.
On 1 May, Mr Goh, who is well-known in Singapore for holding public protests at Hong Lim Park, uploaded a photograph of him holding up the placard.
The placard that he held – read “Please ban all flights from India we are not racist! Just being cautious” – was referenced to the astronomical spike in the number of daily cases in the South Asian nation and the discovery of a highly infectious COVID-19 strain with double mutations originating from the country.
A police spokesman had earlier told The Straits Times (ST) that it received a report on 1 May notifying that Mr Goh had carried out a public assembly without a permit.
“Mr Gilbert Goh did not have a police permit to carry out the public assembly,” said the spokesman.
According to Mr Goh, he was interviewed for about two hours at the station. He also said that he was not given a copy of his police statement.
Currently, no assemblies or gatherings at Hong Lim Park are permitted by the Government due to the COVID-19 situation.
Police have been rejecting applications for public assembly out of COVID-19 considerations as well, even for a one-man assembly.