Officials on Thursday night broke off a wedding in London that violated the British closure.
Initially, Metropolitan police said 400 people attended the wedding, but the group later revised the number to 150.
Currently, a maximum of six guests may attend weddings and civil partnership ceremonies, according to the UK Coronavirus Lockdown. However, these ceremonies should only take place “in exceptional circumstances”, such as when one partner has a terminal illness.
Police said they were called to London’s Stamford Hill suburb on Thursday night with reports of a large gathering at a school.
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“The group gathered for a wedding and took a number of steps to cover their activities, by covering windows and closing gates,” the Metropolitan Police said in a release.
The Yesodey Hatorah Secondary Girls School in the Stamford Hill suburb of London is pictured. Police said they broke up a wedding attended by 150 people, despite a nationwide exclusion at the school Thursday night. (Stefan Rousseau / PA via AP, File)
According to police, the marriage organizer is facing a fine of £ 10,000 (approximately $ 13,685 USD), and five other participants received a fixed fine of £ 200 (approximately $ 274 USD).
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The venue was the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School, a state-funded Orthodox Jewish high school whose principal died of coronavirus in April last year.
In a statement, the school said it was “absolutely horrified by the incident last night and strongly condemned it”.
The school said the hall was rented to an outside organization and that we did not know the wedding would take place.
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British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis also condemned the rule-breaking event.
“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,” he said. tweeted Friday.
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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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.