Engagements, birthdays, housewarmings – hundreds attending illegal parties as northern coronavirus restrictions extended

Events being held despite infection rates rising across region

(Getty Images)

An engagement party, children’s birthday bash and housewarming were among gatherings attended by hundreds of people in Greater Manchester within hours of coronavirus restrictions being extended across the region on Friday, police have revealed.

Officers handed out fixed penalty notices while breaking up the events as part of a continuing crackdown on anyone found flouting Covid-19 rules.

But the sheer number and range of clandestine parties continuing to be held will cause alarm amid still-rising infection rates in the region.

It is currently illegal for people from different households in Greater Manchester to meet each other in homes and gardens.

The temporary law – which also applies to areas of east Lancashire, large chunks of West Yorkshire and the city of Leicester – was extended for a fourth week on Friday.

The government decision came as figures showed infection rates across many of those areas were continuing to climb. The measures were designed to “help protect local residents, and allow more time for the changes to have an effect, cutting transmission among households”, the Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement.

But policing the restrictions continues to require a huge effort from Greater Manchester Police in particular with the force using Twitter on Friday night to highlight just often they were having to attend events. Among other parties they detailed were a gathering of 30 teenagers and a shindig in the car park of a pub.

Those come after a week in which the force already had to deal with a street party apparently celebrating Pakistan’s Independence Day attended by some 200 people in the city’s Wilmslow Road area and a house party in Stockport where an officer was attacked as she attempted to end the event.

In Lancashire, meanwhile, police had to disperse two large groups of teenagers celebrating GCSE exam results on Thursday.

More than 200 teenagers gathered in Stanley Park in Blackpool and up to 100 gathered in Feniscowles village in hard-hit Blackburn, the force said.