The man went into a foetus position to avoid their blows but each time, the blows seemed to get more brutal.

This went on for more than two minutes in the shadows of the pillar in front of the already closed Coriander Leaf restaurant, in between IndoChine's The Forbidden City and Attica.

I saw it. And so did about 20 others, some of whom hurried past the violence, too scared to get involved, while others merely stared in shock.

It was 2.30am early on Saturday - early by Clarke Quay standards.

A steady crowd was still streaming into the lane, mostly heading for the queue outside the expat hang-out Attica - which was packed with women dolled in short dresses and men in long-sleeved shirts.

My girlfriends and I, in typical weekend celebratory fashion, had just left Attica's lilypad outdoor al fresco bar, having earlier popped a bottle of champagne.

But we were immediately shocked by the scene of violence as soon as we stepped out into the lane.

Two unidentified security officers who saw the beating leading the police towards the taxi stand. But the victim had already left in a cab.
The four bouncers were clearly having a go. For whatever wrongs the expat had committed, we were anxious for the kicking to stop.

But we stood, gasping in horror. We feared to get closer.

The sight deeply angered two other expats, Mr Christopher Po and Mr Oliver Ricaille, who were passing by.

Regional manager Mr Po, 35, thought at first that the men were friends fooling around - until a bouncer pulled the expat's shirt and kicked him down.

Mr Po said: 'They kept kicking him when he was on the floor. They almost broke his nose.'

Mr Ricaille, a 32-year-old consultant, added: 'When one (bouncer) dragged him on the floor, the other two kicked him as he was on the floor trying to protect himself.

'I was shocked...'

He was so outraged that he returned home and immediately penned an e-mail to The New Paper at 4am.

He asked in his e-mail: 'What is the role of a bouncer? How did the management of IndoChine train the bouncers?

'Are they required to follow any troublemakers outside IndoChine?

'Are bouncers allowed to beat a person on the street? Or shouldn't bouncers be simply keeping the establishment safe of any issues?'

After the bashing, the bouncers dispersed. The expat slowly got to his knees, stood up and lit a cigarette.

No one helped him.

His face was bloodied. He was bleeding profusely from his nose. There were blood stains on his white T-shirt. All the buttons on the white shirt he was wearing on the outside had come undone.

Another Caucasian man appeared and the two men made a dash towards the taxi stand, got into a taxi and left.

All this time, an IndoChine staff member in the same black polo T-shirt stood by The Forbidden City's entrance.

He said: 'That guy hit one of my men. So we hit him back.'

What Mr Ricaille could not swallow, he said, were two other men standing in the vicinity who were wearing fluorescent vests with the label 'security' on their backs.

They simply stood and watched the beating. Clarke Quay management officials said the two men were not their security officers.

Passerby Miss Tan Wen Jing, 27, said: 'Clearly the people attacking the subject were bouncers. It did not look like a random fight so I did not feel my safety was threatened.'

Police said they received a call at about 2.45am.

When they arrived, the two men in fluorescent vests accompanied police to the taxi stand. But the expat was gone.

The Forbidden City's bar manager, Mr Mohammed Riduan, said he phoned the bouncers to return to the bar after police spoke to him.

'They had gone off,' he said.

When contacted yesterday, the expat asked that we leave his name out of this report.

He said he did not want to risk his job in Singapore or cause embarrassment to his employers.

He wanted to let the matter pass. He explained: 'I have a young family and I am an expat working here.'

Was undue force used against the man?

Lawyer Sunil Sudheesan from Kattarwong said bouncers are expected to respond proportionately to the violence carried out by the patron, such as restraining the patron, or to stop the violence from escalating.

Police are investigating.