London police say they broke up a wedding attended by 150 people, despite a nationwide blockade that prevents households from mixing
LONDON – London police said on Friday they had broken up a wedding attended by 150 people – despite a nationwide blockade preventing households from interfering.
The venue was a school whose principal died of coronavirus last year.
Metropolitan police said officers found a large number of people packed in the north London school with blackened windows on Thursday night. The force said that “following the investigations it was established that the group gathered at the location 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 “exceptional circumstances” – such as a partner who is dangerously ill – and with a maximum of six people attending.
Police said the organizer could be fined £ 10,000 ($ 13,600). Many guests fled when police arrived, but five people who attended received fines of £ 200.
The Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School, a state-funded Orthodox Jewish high school, said in a statement that it was “absolutely terrified of last night’s event and condemned it in the strongest terms possible.”
The school said its hall was rented to an outside organization and “I didn’t know the wedding was taking place.”
The chief rabbi of Great Britain, Ephraim Mirvis, condemned the event of violation of the rules.
He posted on Twitter: “At a time when we are all making such great sacrifices, this means a decomposed abrogation of the responsibility to protect life, and such illegal behavior is detested by the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community.”
The school’s principal, Rabbi Avrahom Pinter, died in April after contracting the coronavirus.
Pubs, restaurants and entertainment venues in the UK are closed, and people need to stay mostly at home as part of restrictions to reduce a new rise in the virus. The UK recorded more than 95,000 deaths through COVID-19, the largest number in Europe.
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