Dozens have been fined after police caught 300 people at an illegal rave in northeast London.
Officers raided the unlicensed music event at a railway arch in Nursery Road, Hackney, at around 1.30am on Sunday.
Organisers padlocked the door from the inside and dozens of those attending scaled fences to escape as officers forced their way inside, the Met Police said.
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The scene as officers enter the space used for an illegal rave
A total of 78 people were stopped and issued with fixed penalty notices to the value of £200 for breaching COVID regulations by attending an illegal gathering, the force added.
The fines total £15,600.
A woman, who claimed she attended the rave but avoided being caught by the police, said she learnt about it on social media.
She admitted she knew she should not have been at the event and later felt guilty about attending amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, told Sky News: “I suppose I’m quite an impulsive person and I feel like it is going on everywhere so there’s a part of you that feels like you’re missing out.
“I’m not saying it’s something I regularly go and do but sometimes you just want to go and see what is actually out there and just explore what’s out there, if you feel everyone else is doing it.”
The woman said she knew people who had contracted COVID-19 but they had all been “fine”.
She added that she did not plan to attend any future raves.
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Officers break into a space being used for an illegal rave
Chief Superintendent Roy Smith said: “Officers were forced, yet again, to put their own health at risk to deal with a large group of incredibly selfish people who were tightly packed together in a confined space – providing an ideal opportunity for this deadly virus to spread.
“Our frontline officers continue to police this public health crisis with compassion and professionalism but it is completely unacceptable they have to face such needless risks to their own health and to their families too.”
It comes after police criticised party-goers for making “incredibly selfish” decisions during the coronavirus lockdown.
Superintendent Michael Walsh, of the Met’s Central West Basic Command Unit, was speaking after they broke up a series of late-night parties in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
On Sunday 17 January, police found more than 200 people at an illegal gathering in Knightsbridge.
When told to go home, the attendees became hostile and pushed past officers in an attempt to avoid being fined, police said.
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On Sunday, 17 January police were called to an illegal gathering in west London.
Two officers were injured, around 30 fixed penalty notices were issued, and a three-month closure order is being prepared for the establishment, which had already been fined for a previous breach of COVID legislation.
On Saturday 16 January, more than 30 people were found socialising in a venue in Ladbroke Grove, west London, police said.
The venue’s owner is being considered for a fixed penalty notice amounting to £10,000 and those who attended were told to go home.
Last month, an illegal gathering at a commercial property in Knightsbridge resulted in the venue being closed for three months, following previous breaches of COVID legislation.
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Police say some people are making selfish decisions
Superintendent Michael Walsh, of the Met’s Central West Basic Command Unit, said the incidents showed “flagrant breaches of COVID legislation and could potentially have put multiple people at risk of contracting or spreading the virus”.
He added: “Attending or organising such parties during this critical period is an incredibly selfish decision to make and we will continue to take action against those who flout the rules.
“My officers continue to work incredibly hard to uphold COVID legislation in order to keep people safe. While the majority of breaches have been resolved without incident, it deeply saddens me that some individuals have chosen to assault police officers who are simply doing their part in the collective battle against this deadly virus.
“We will absolutely not tolerate assaults on police officers. It goes without saying that anyone who harms an emergency worker will face the full force of the law.”
