WHILE the Little India riot was caused by a confluence of factors, alcohol played a major role in the mayhem on Dec 8 last year, the final witness of the public hearing into the mayhem told the Committee of Inquiry (COI).
Lead investigator Adam Fashe Huddin said that evidence presented by different groups throughout the five-week inquiry – including the huge demand for alcohol before the riot, and that rioters were losing their balance and had smelt of alcohol – meant intoxication played a large role in the violence that night.