London police say they broke up a wedding attended by 150 people despite a nationwide lockdown preventing households from interfering
LONDON – Police in London said on Friday they have broken up a wedding attended by 150 people – despite a nationwide lockdown preventing households from interfering.
The location was a school whose principal died of the corona virus last year.
Metropolitan Police said officers found a large number of people with darkened windows in the school in North London on Thursday evening. Police said that “after inquiries, it was determined that the group had gathered at the site for a wedding.”
Police initially said there were 400 people at the wedding, but later revised the number to 150.
Weddings are allowed only in “exceptional circumstances” – such as a partner who is dangerously ill – and with a maximum of six attendees.
Police said the organizer could be fined £ 10,000 ($ 13,600). Many guests fled when the police arrived, but five people in attendance were fined £ 200.
The Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School, a state-funded Orthodox Jewish high school, said in a statement that it was “absolutely shocked at last night’s event and condemned it in the strongest possible terms.”
The school said the venue had been rented out to an outside organization and “we were unaware that the wedding was taking place.”
British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis denounced the rule breaking event.
He tweeted, “At a time when we all make such great sacrifices, it amounts to a brutal withdrawal of responsibility to protect life and such illegal behavior is abhorred by the vast majority of the Jewish community.”
The school’s principal, Rabbi Avrahom Pinter, died in April after contracting the corona virus.
Pubs, restaurants and nightlife in Britain have closed and people are largely forced to stay at home as part of the restrictions to curb another wave of the virus. There have been more than 95,000 COVID-19 deaths in the UK, the highest number in Europe.
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