A fight involving several middle-aged, beer-drinking men at a coffee shop in Woodlands on Saturday saw police officers showing up armed with sub-machine guns.
The incident happened at about 9pm at the ST11 coffee shop at Block 167, Woodlands Street 11.
Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that a group of middle-aged men were drinking beer at the smoking area and playing cards.
A 47-year-old businessman, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lin, told Wanbao that the area was crowded and the men were regulars.
"There were seven or eight of them in the group," he said.
"Suddenly a man in yellow boots sitting at another table shouted at the group in Hokkien telling them to shut up."
Mr Lin said the group confronted the man, who retaliated by pushing one of them.
They surrounded him and knocked him to the ground, allegedly punching him for five to 10 minutes before beating him with a plastic chair.
They fled before the police arrived.
Photos of the aftermath showed the victim sitting at one of the tables with a bloodied forehead, his shirt covered in blood.
Police officers with helmets and body armour and carrying MP5 sub-machine guns were later seen at the coffee shop.
A spokesman for the Singapore Civil Defence Force told The New Paper that paramedics found the man had sustained minor injuries, but he refused to be taken to hospital.
A police spokesman confirmed a report was lodged and investigations were ongoing.
No one has been arrested.
Coffee shop stall owners who did not want to be identified told Wanbao that fights broke out there every month, resulting in many stalls refusing to open at night.
They claimed some of these disputes happened because men would fight for the attention of a popular beer lady.
