“The Padang queue is closed. Please go home,” the policeman urged on the loudhailer. The crowd at City Hall pressed on, hoping to enter the Padang to join the queue to see Lee Kuan Yew lying in state yesterday night.

Masses thronged, spilling over from Raffles City Shopping centre into the adjacent War Memorial Park and Esplanade underpass, as people waited for the Padang to be reopened.

The queue to pay respects to Lee Kuan Yew was "temporarily suspended" at around 11pm yesterday night, as the wait to pay respects to the former prime minister extended past the 10-hour mark.

The queue was eventually reopened at 6.15am today and had just closed at 8pm.

Even as reports of chaos reigned on the Internet, the City Hall MRT station was an oasis of calm, as many persisted in their wait.

Volunteers were also attempting to gain entry into the Padang queue to give out food to the public.

Amongst those volunteers were Wu Jiezhen of The Hidden Good, who, along with five of her friends, brought stickers and confectionery to those in the line.

Mothership.sg spoke to Wu - and several others who were trying to help out.

“We were inspired by the many stories we had been seeing online of Singaporeans coming together and connecting, and reaching out to help one another,” Wu told Mothership.sg.

The group was initially disappointed that they could not enter the Padang - so they decided, on a whim, to distribute to those who were leaving Parliament House instead.

“Many of them had been standing in line for hours and their eyes just lit up when we greeted them as they came out of the Parliament House with cookies, buns and stickers,” Wu said.

“I felt really heartened to see so many people waiting (to see Lee Kuan Yew)… I hope that even after this week, that people continue to connect and reach out to the people around us, and that it doesn't just end here."

A man, who wanted to only be known as G, put up a sign at the Supreme Court offering rides home for pregnant women, the elderly, and children.

When Mothership.sg called the number on the sign - his car was nowhere to be found - G told us that he wanted no publicity out of this.

“I want to do something for Lee Kuan Yew,” the 31-year-old said. “It’s that simple.”

Despite the number of people - elderly included - leaving Parliament House, G said that he had only received two calls so far, perhaps due to Singaporeans’ natural suspicion.

"I hope Singaporeans can be more united as one," G said. "That's what Mr Lee has been trying to uphold all his life after all."

Jamie Kum, a People’s Association grassroots volunteer, was also there at 12am, distributing apples to those who just left the Parliament.

People asked us why there weren’t any apple juice,” she said. “We said, no juice, only apples."

On the large numbers of people coming to pay their respects to Lee, Kum said: “I don’t think that even Lee Kuan Yew himself would have expected such a crowd - especially a crowd so young."

All photos by Ng Yi Shu.

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