Police issue warnings to six over protest outside MOE headquarters

The police have issued warnings to six people for their roles in a protest without a permit outside the Ministry of Education headquarters in Buona Vista in January.

The police did not name them in a statement yesterday, but previous reports had identified five of them as Ms Kokila Annamalai, 33, Ms Lune Loh, 24, Mr Elijah Tay, 19, Ms Averyn Thng, 24, and Mr Ng Yi-Sheng, 41.

Ms Kokila was issued a 24-month conditional warning for organising the protest and breaching a "Move-on" direction issued by the police to cease activities.

Mr Tay, founder of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) group My Queer Story SG, and Ms Loh were given a 12-month conditional warning for participating in a public assembly without a permit and breaching the "Move-on" direction.

The conditional warnings mean the trio have to refrain from any criminal conduct during the periods stipulated. If they commit an offence, they can be prosecuted again for the consorting charge and the new offence.

Stern warnings were issued to Ms Thng and Mr Ng, a local writer, for participating in the assembly. The police said the two had complied with instructions given by a security officer and left the scene before the police arrived.

Mr Alex Tan, 23, who was involved in the preparation of placards used at the protest, was also issued a stern warning.

On Jan 26, the five had staged a protest outside the MOE headquarters building at around 5pm, carrying placards stating "#Fix schools not students", "Why are we not in your sex ed", "How can we get A's when your care for us is an F", "trans students will not be erased" and "trans students deserve access to healthcare & support".

The police said that when officers arrived at the scene, only three people - Mr Tay, Ms Loh and Ms Kokila - were there.

They were warned to cease their activities but ignored the warning, the police said.

"The trio were then issued with a 'Move-on' direction under Section 36 of the Public Order Act and were told that they would be arrested if they failed to adhere to the direction," said the police.

"They refused to comply despite the police's repeated warnings, and were arrested under the Public Order Act at around 5.35pm."

The police said that in addition to the five protesters, four others, aged between 23 and 41, who were not part of the assembly, were investigated for their suspected involvement in the incident.

Other than Mr Tan, no action has been taken against them.

The protest had taken place after a transgender pre-university student diagnosed with gender dysphoria said in a Reddit post in January that MOE had blocked her from getting hormonal treatment.

MOE said this was not true, as it was not in a position to interfere in any medical treatment, and that this was a matter for the student's family to decide on.