Police have stopped opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and his supporters from their planned march to Suntec City this morning (Sep 16), where the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings are being held. Earlier, Dr Chee led a rally in at Speakers' Corner, where Singaporeans are allowed to speak publicly, in defiance of a government ban to protest against curbs on free speech. Dr Chee, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, and six other activists wearing white tee-shirts saying 'Freedom Now', demonstrated at the city park. Addressing the crowd in English and Mandarin, he urged Singaporeans not to be afraid and to join in his march through downtown Singapore. He has vowed to stage the demonstrations and said he would brave arrests, despite the government's repeated warnings it would not tolerate any outdoor protests.

Samuel Lin, 23, saw these two police vehicles on Beach Road at around noon today (Sep 13). These are PETRAs or Patrol Escort, Tactical Response Vans, which are essentially mobile barricades to keep crowds away from protected areas. The PETRAs are deployed as part of the Police's security efforts during the IMF and World Bank meetings.

Public road turned private playground? This barricade is not part of any roadwork. Several families living along Jalan Nuri have blocked off this road and labelled it as a "private road". Christopher Goh, 50, noticed that one out of two lanes on the road has been sectioned off by some residents in the estate, as a space for their children to play badminton and cycle. Motorists travelling in opposite directions are now left with a single lane to travel on. This has been happening everyday for the past two weeks, according to Mr Goh. He said: "It's very selfish of these people. I usually ignore the signage and drive through the area anyway. The residents and maids of the houses along the road can actually stare at me, as if I was the one doing something wrong." LTA spokesperson Naleeza Ebrahim responded and confirmed that Jalan Nuri is a private road, that LTA "does not interfere with the way private streets are maintained or managed, except only if the road is found to be in a defective condition which compromises the safety of the public and road users."

Alden Tan spotted these two security personnel as he was at Bugis with a friend on 13 September. In his email to STOMP, he wonders if the security personnel are fit enough to respond to emergencies: "I was with my friend at Bugis when we spotted security people walking around Bugis. An interesting sight caught our eyes - 2 very obese guards sluggishly walking towards us. We also noticed that people were turning back to look at them and talking. The thought crossed our mind that they may have difficulty giving chase if need to as they looked like they were already having problem walking. They are unlikely to pose much of a deterrent to a would-be terrorist! We are not discriminating against obese people but this job calls for those who are fit and nimble. We should perhaps give more thoughts to suitability before assigning duties."

This mms was sent to us of a car with the door ajar. It was taken today (15 Sept), 11am at Ayer Rajah Crescent. The person who sent the picture reckons that the driver must have been in a hurry to get out of the pouring rain and simply forgot to shut the door. STOMP wonders if it's also the reason the car is parked in a 'Lorries Only' section.

Chris Chua, 48, spotted this lady at the Food Centre in Bedok Central on 15 September at 2.25 pm. In his email to STOMP, he says:
"She went about asking for money donation. Overheard her saying it's for charity. Not many gave though she showed them a publicity leaflet with her. Can like tat one meh?"

Lena Chew emailed us this picture as she was taken aback at the boldness of the man who had blatantly ignored the No Smoking poster. Ms Chew also says she had noticed those who hid their cigarettes under the table while smoking in the 'no-smoking' zone.

Tan Suan Wee, 17, a student, Lim Boon Wah, 24, a student and Steven Fong separately sent us pictures of this incident which happened at Clementi MRT station last evening (Sep 14) at about 7pm.


The alarm was raised and SMRT staff helped her back onto the platform.
Moments before the incident, a commuter overheard the 26-year-old woman telling a male companion in Mandarin: "Don't push me." As the male suspect started to move away from the scene, several commuters chased and held him down until the police arrived. The suspect was arrested and investigations are under way. Train services were disrupted for about 10 minutes, said an SMRT spokesman. Mazlina Majlam, 35, read this report and sent an SMS to STOMP. She had seen the couple arguing at the bus-stop next to the Clementi MRT station. This is her account:
"The woman was shouting loudly at the man, who tried to sweet-talk her and he put his arms around her to try and pacify her. But she pushed him away and was obviously very unhappy. I didn't think too much about their quarrel until I was at a shop nearby and saw people looking at the MRT track. By then, the lady was already on the train tracks and I recognised her from the bus-stop! It was alleged that the man had pushed her off the platform! But from what I saw at the bus-stop, I don't think he actually pushed her off the platform, even though I wasn't at the platform to witness it."

This woman in black escaped with minor injuries after being allegedly pushed off a platform and onto the tracks. Shouting as she fell, the woman quickly pulled herself up and managed to reach the far side just as a train pulled into the station. Passengers in the train were stunned to see her on the side of the track.