'He called me a prostitute': Elderly woman hit by man with garbage tongs in Chinatown

Wanting to 'chope' public spaces is part and parcel of Singaporean culture, but one man may have crossed the line while trying to 'guard' his favourite hang-out spot. 

Last Sunday (Sept 18), several videos showing a 37-year-old man attacking an elderly lady at the Garden Link Bridge in Chinatown surfaced on TikTok. 

"The old people here are often bullied by foreign gangsters...Hopefully government agencies can help these innocent elderly," the video caption wrote. 

In the video, the man, dressed in a white polo T-shirt, was seen pacing around and spewing profanities at an elderly woman in a blue T-shirt holding a garbage tong. 

The woman, surnamed Chen, later told Shin Min Daily News that she picked up the garbage tongs to defend herself during an argument.

Another woman in red can be seen standing in between them, trying to stop them from fighting during that Saturday night incident. 

Sensing the tension between the duo, passers-by occupying one of the benches picked up their drinks and left the area. 

As the argument got heated, the man can be seen grabbing the garbage tongs from the woman and kicking her in the stomach. 

He also used the garbage tongs to hit the elderly woman's arms and legs. 

While he continues to yell at the woman, he also claimed that he has a bruise on his arm — evidence that she had allegedly hurt him too. 

Later on in the video, a female voice can be heard saying: "I tried to talk to him but he scolded me. We always come here to dance but he says we can't dance here." 

Towards the end of the video, a man in purple shorts can be heard calling the police to resolve the matter.

Chen told the Chinese daily that she often dances at the Garden Link Bridge, the location where the confrontation with the man occurred. 

Recounting the incident to a reporter, the 73-year-old said: "He walked up to me for no reason that day, called me a prostitute and threatened to hit me."

After the altercation with the man, Chen said she suffered a bruise on her arm and was unable to sleep. She added that she was planning to see a doctor for her injuries. 

Responding to AsiaOne's queries, the police said they were alerted to a fight in the area at about 6.30pm on Saturday.

A 37-year-old man was arrested for affray and a 73-year-old woman is assisting with police investigations. 

Just last month, an elderly man and two elderly women were arrested after getting into a brawl at a MacPherson temple — over a seat-hogging dispute. 

A video of the heated exchange was uploaded to Facebook, where a woman in a red top threw a chair at another woman, who retaliated by hitting back at her. 

Later on, a man rushed forward to throw several punches at the woman in red, causing her to bleed profusely in the face. 

ALSO READ: 'Why no one stopped the fight?' 5 bystanders sit idly by and watch as 2 elderly uncles fight

claudiatan@asiaone.com