Dangerous thinking. Especially if this act was combined with taking photos of the food from the stall? I can understand the outrage of the stall owner, it's a provocation...somewhat. The clever thing is for him to take the photo of the customer also, but please get real...do you really expect stall owners equip themselves with a camera to document (and later on send to STOMP) of their encounter with greedy, ugly customers?!?!
A Singaporean family was assaulted by a hawker couple at Food Loft along Clementi Ave 3 yesterday.
STOMP contributor Julia recalled that she had taken an extra portion of anchovies from a container placed outside the hawker stall after paying for her noodles, when the female stall holder, who according to Julia was from China, raised her voice and said, "You Singaporeans who are paying so little money want to have so much of everything".
After raising her voice at Julia, the female store holder continued to mumble and complain to passers-by about the same matter and also complained to her husband. Her husband then attacked Julia's family of three, causing them to run away in defence.
The male stall holder did not stop his pursuit even after the family got into their car, and continued to kick and bang on the car. The woman stood in front of Julia's car to prevent them from driving away, allowing her husband to continue abusing the car from behind.
Julia had sustained injuries on her back and head after falling while trying to stop her husband from retaliating during the attack. Both her husband's eyes were swollen and her son also suffered a bruised eye. The family sought treatment at Singapore General Hospital and chalked up $180 in medical bills. They also made a police report on the same night.
Julia's husband later revealed that they had decided to take photos of the food from the stall as they had wanted to make a report to National Environment Agency as the food did not seem clean. The male hawker left his stall and shouted at him, demanding to know why he was taking pictures, and started to assault Julia's husband.
Julia's husband went to ask the female hawker why she made such a big fuss out of an extra portion of anchovies. He held up the plastic container of anchovies while asking her, and female stall holder slammed the container onto the table, sparking off the assault.
The couple then started to punch Julia's family, and her 14 year-old son got hurt while trying to defend his father. The male hawker also hit Julia's husband's head with an object.
Julia's husband could not retaliate because Julia and the coffeeshop owner had prevented him from doing so.
The coffeeshop owner later revealed that the hawker couple they encountered were known for their bad temper.
When AsiaOne checked with the police, we were told that a report has been lodged against the hawkers and that they have classified it as mischief and voluntarily causing hurt. The police are currently looking into the matter.
From Asiaone, "Hawkers from China assault Singaporean family".