LONDON (AP) – London police said on Friday that they had broken up a wedding with 150 people – despite a national blockade that prevents families from mixing.
The site was a school whose principal died of coronavirus last year.
Metropolitan police said police officers found large numbers of people huddled in the North London school with their windows tinted on Thursday night. The force said that “after investigations, it was established that the group met on the spot for a wedding”.
The force initially said 400 people were at the wedding, but later revised the number to 150.
Marriages are allowed only in “exceptional circumstances” – as one partner is seriously ill – and with a maximum of six people present.
Police said the organizer could face a £ 10,000 ($ 13,600) fine. Many guests fled when the police arrived, but five people who attended were fined £ 200.
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 condemns it in the strongest terms possible.”
The school said its hall was rented to an outside organization and “we were not aware that the wedding was taking place”.
The UK’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, condemned the rule-breaking event.
He tweeted: “At a time when we are all making great sacrifices, this amounts to a blatant revocation of the responsibility to protect life and this illegal behavior is hated 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 Britain are closed and people are forced to stay at home as part of the restrictions to contain a new outbreak of the virus. The UK recorded more than 95,000 deaths from COVID-19, the highest number of deaths in Europe.
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