Five friends will not be spending the next one week celebrating Chinese New Year with their families.

This after they were arrested for rioting on Friday and ordered to be remanded at Clementi Police Division until next Thursday to assist in further investigations.

Eugene Leong Yao Jun and Joshua Low Xiao Zhong, both 20; Nigel Koh Jia Sheng, 21; and Ong Choon Hong and Justine Soh, both 23; were charged in a district court on Saturday with being members of an unlawful assembly, which had allegedly attacked Mr Abdul Hamid Ahmad at Sentosa Gateway near Harbour Front.

The police prosecutor told the court that the 47-year-old victim is now unconscious in hospital. If convicted of rioting, each could be jailed for up to seven years and caned.