Man investigated by S'pore police for threatening violence on LGBTQ community

The man was seen wielding a knife in the video.

Guan Zhen Tan | July 03, 2021, 09:09 PM

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An Instagram Live video that featured a man who threatened violence against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community here went viral.

A portion of the expletive-laden video, which attracted more than 70,000 views, was recorded and uploaded onto socio-political site Wake Up Singapore Instagram account.

In response to queries from Mothership, the police confirmed on Saturday (July 3) that a report was lodged.

A 23-year-old man is helping with ongoing police investigations on the matter.

Threatened to "riot at Pink Dot"

A bespectacled man was seen to be speaking to another Instagram user, who is purportedly 17 years old.

He threatened the user, saying that he would "send his guys to riot at Pink Dot" and "make it into a gang clash" next year.

Other threats include the man saying that he would be "the reason why LGBT will no longer exist in Singapore" and that he would throw the user's body into a drain.

The video includes a screenshot of the man wielding a knife, and a screen recording alleging that the man had been liking racist comments made against the user on TikTok as well.

Wrote an email to explain his actions

Wake Up, Singapore also posted screenshots of an email sent by him in response to the incident going viral.

In the email, the man defended his actions, claiming that it started with him trying to ask the other user why he was disrespecting the Singapore flag.

Unable to come to an amicable agreement, the man says that the video uploaded onto Wake Up, Singapore was "cropped" from the end of the live, when the situation is already heated.

Screenshot via Wake Up, Singapore's Facebook post
LGBTQ rights group Pink Dot has since posted about the incident on their Facebook page.

In two posts, the group noted that the 23-year-old had been leaving "homophobic and disturbing comments" on their Facebook and Instagram page for the past 2 years.

They also said that they are "gravely concerned" by these threats.

They urged the public not to share the video online for its "potentially distressing contenting" and to refrain from exposing both user's identities.

Top image via Wake Up, Singapore's Facebook video