London police say they have broken up a wedding attended by 150 people despite a nationwide lockdown banning households from mixing
LONDON – Police in London said on Friday that they had broken up a wedding attended by 150 people, despite a nationwide exclusion banning households from mixing.
The venue was a school whose principal died of the coronavirus last year.
According to Metropolitan Police, officers found a large number of people in the North London school with obscured windows on Thursday night. The force said that “after inquiries it was determined that the group had gathered for a wedding.”
The force initially said 400 people were at the wedding, but later revised the number to 150.
Weddings are only allowed in ‘extraordinary circumstances’ – as one partner is dangerously ill – and with a maximum of six people.
Police said the organizer could be fined £ 10,000 ($ 13,600). Many guests fled when police arrived, but five people who attended received £ 200 fines.
The Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School, a state-funded Orthodox Jewish high school, said in a statement that it was “absolutely horrified by last night’s event and strongly condemned it.”
According to the school, the hall was rented to an outside organization and “we did not know the wedding would take place.”
British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis condemned the rule-breaking event.
He tweeted, “At a time when we are all making such great sacrifices, it amounts to a shameless lifting of the responsibility to protect life, and such illegal behavior is detested by the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community.”
The principal, Rabbi Avrahom Pinter, died in April after contracting the coronavirus.
Bars, restaurants and entertainment venues in Britain have been closed, and people are expected to stay largely at home, as part of the restrictions to curb a new increase in the virus. The UK has recorded more than 95,000 COVID-19 deaths, the highest toll in Europe.
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