Officers with the Metropolitan Police shut down a Good Friday service in Balham yesterday (Friday, April 2) after saying the congregation had breached coronavirus security guidelines.
Footage purportedly displaying the second police shut down the service circulated on social media on Friday and Saturday, prompting a response from Met Police in Wandsworth.
Reportedly the church in query was the Christ the King Polish Roman Catholic Church in Balham, which lies on Balham High Road the place police mentioned their intervention occurred.
You might have seen video displaying cops at one in all a collection of church companies in #Balham. Please see our assertion beneath. pic.twitter.com/YXzmDO9Trn
— Wandsworth Police (@MPSWandsworth) April 3, 2021
In their assertion posted Saturday, a spokesperson for the Met confirmed they’d shut down the gathering however had issued no penalty notices in the method.
“At round 17.00hrs on Friday, April 2, officers had been referred to as to a report of crowds of individuals queuing outdoors a church in Balham High Road.
“Officers attended and located numerous folks contained in the church. Some folks weren’t sporting masks and people current had been clearly not socially distanced.
“We are notably involved concerning the danger of transmission of the Covid-19 virus on account of giant indoor gatherings at which persons are not socially distanced and a few will not be sporting masks.
“As such, officers made the choice that it was not protected for that specific service to proceed.
“Understanding the sensitivity of the scenario, officers engaged with the priest outdoors the church and had been invited to handle the congregation. No mounted penalty notices had been issued.”
They added that officers appreciated it might be a one in all a collection of non secular gatherings over the Easter interval and as such can be “partaking with with church authorities at present” and “in the approaching days”.
Meanwhile an announcement posted to the Christ the King church web site appeared to refute the premise of the police shutting the service down, suggesting they’d adopted authorities pointers.
As the Wandsworth Times reported beforehand, Covid-19 infections are rising in some components of the UK, three weeks after probably the most stringent lockdown rules such because the closure of faculties had been lifted.
Yesterday, the federal government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) estimated England’s R quantity to be between 0.8 and 1 – up from between 0.7 and 0.9 throughout the entire of the UK final week.
