Nearly £100,000 in Covid Fines for Halloween Celebrations in UK Region

In glorious black and white - Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival 2019 Pig Dyke Molly are one o
Richard Humphrey, Geograph
Kurt Zindulka

Police gave out nearly £100,000 in fines to people for having “illegal gatherings” in celebration of Halloween in the English region of South Yorkshire over the weekend.

Police issued nine £10,000 fines over Halloween weekend after being tipped off by neighbours about people holding Halloween parties.

The city was placed under regional Tier 3 lockdown restrictions last month, which prohibits the mixing of people from separate households.

Elsewhere in the area, police issued 20 fines of £200 against people who attended a rave in Barnsley after breaking up the party in the early hours of the morning on Saturday.

Police also broke up another rave on Kelham Island and arrested a 17-year-old boy for allegedly obstructing police, South Yorkshire Police said in a statement.

Superintendent Paul McCurry said that the actions taken by police should serve as a warning to people: “I hope that this serves as a warning that where necessary, we will take action against those who show a clear disregard for the measures which are in place to protect others.”

“Now more than ever, we all need to do our bit to slow the spread of this virus, and protect our health service,” McCurry added.

The police chief said that the force “fully appreciates” how difficult abiding by the China virus restrictions has been and that it is “frustrating for everyone”, but added that “organising house parties at a time when the infection rate is rising so rapidly is extremely irresponsible.”

“Hospital admissions are continuing to increase and in order for these to slow down, we must reduce the spread of the virus between different households,” he went on.

Ahead of the autumn holiday, the government banned children from guising and trick-or-treating in areas considered to be hotspots for the coronavirus.

In Scotland, people were told to remain at home on Halloween, and Deputy First Minister John Swinney said that households should also refrain from leaving bowls of candy outside their homes for fear of spreading the virus.

It has also been suggested by Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) that law enforcement may be tasked with breaking up Christmas Day family gatherings should they be determined to be in violation of the lockdown rules.

Last week, the West Midlands PCC David Jamieson said: “If we think there’s large groups of people gathering where they shouldn’t be, then police will have to intervene.”

“It’s not the police’s job to stop people enjoying their Christmas. However, we are there to enforce the rules that the Government makes, and if the Government makes those rules then the Government has to explain that to the public,” he added.

England is likely to enter into a second national lockdown starting on November 5th, which is expected to run until December 2nd. However, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said on Sunday that the government would consider extending the lockdown measures if they believe it to be necessary.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka

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