Volunteer suffers redness on his forehead after fight breaks out at Pandan Gardens temple
The Chinese New Year (CNY) got off to a bad start for a volunteer at a temple in Pandan Gardens when he was hit with a burning incense stick during a fight.
In a Facebook post on Monday (3 Feb), Yang Tao Yuan Sheng Hong Temple said “something not so nice” happened on 29 Jan, which was the first day of CNY.
Source: Google Maps
Volunteer attacked by 3 devotees during Pandan Gardens temple fight
After the temple’s annual New Year blessing ritual had been completed in the early hours of the morning, one of the devotees rushed into the hall and fell down, the temple said.
The worship hall had not yet opened for the public to enter for prayers at the time.
After he got up, the man who fell down attacked a male temple volunteer while two others joined in.
CCTV footage showed the trio hitting the volunteers with their hands and incense sticks.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Some of the incense sticks appeared to be alight.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
Meanwhile, a fourth devotee challenged the volunteer to “talk outside”.
Volunteer didn’t retaliate
The volunteer didn’t retaliate as he didn’t want to escalate matters, the temple said.
Moreover, he was wearing the temple uniform and it was the first day of CNY.
When two other devotees witnessed the incident, they stepped forward to admonish the attackers to stop the fight.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
The temple leader didn’t witness the fight as he was attending to another matter outside of the worship hall.
Man refused to step back & lurched forward instead
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, temple manager Su Baozhang (transliterated from Mandarin) said at the time, about 1,000 devotees were waiting to enter the temple.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
However, a man in his mid-30s was eager to go in first and the smoke from his incense sticks was blowing into the face of the volunteer, named only as 41-year-old Mr Huang (transliterated from Mandarin).
Mr Huang asked him to step back, but the man lurched forward instead despite attempts to block him with his body.
The man ended up colliding with another volunteer and falling to the ground, knocking over and breaking a donation box.
When the man accused Mr Huang of tripping him intentionally, which he denied.
The man then hit him, with two other devotees also joining in, Mr Huang said. But after one of them realised he wasn’t fighting back, he tried to stop the others.
Mr Huang added that he was hit in the face and head, causing some redness in his forehead, but he didn’t seek medical attention.
Temple management threatens to take legal action
In its post on 3 Feb, the temple said its management had a record of the attackers’ images and would like to make a police report.
Eyewitnesses said that during the incident, one of the attackers had questioned why nobody from the temple management had come out to talk to them.
Thus, the temple invited them to get in touch to discuss the matter with them.
It also threatened to take “legal action” over the incident.
Man returns to Pandan Gardens temple & apologises for fight
One of the attackers finally approached the temple on Tuesday (4 Feb) — a day after its Facebook post and close to a week after the fight.
Mr Su said he was initially belligerent, but later admitted that he shouldn’t have resorted to violence that day and apologised on his and the other attackers’ behalf.
The temple manager suggested he apologise to Mr Huang face-to-face and he agreed.
Mr Su said the temple would not accept behaviour that disrespects their volunteers, but as a religious organisation based on charity, it decided to give the man a chance to express repentance.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
To prevent similar incidents from happening again, the temple plans to hire two imposing security guards to maintain order next year.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Google Maps.
