Cops break up house parties across county
58 bashes halted as new restrictions come into force
Police attended 58 house parties in Lanarkshire on the very weekend new restrictions were brought in to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Between Friday and Sunday, September 11 and 13, officers responded to 405 house parties across Scotland, 14 per cent of which were in Lanarkshire, despite new restrictions targeted at stopping the spread of the virus by meeting in houses.
Just hours after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the additional restrictions, a 21-yearold man was arrested following an incident at a house party in a Motherwell tower block.
Six people across Scotland were arrested and one fixed penalty notice was handed out at the weekend after new powers were given to police to help enforce coronavirus restrictions.
Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: “The figures from this weekend show we will use the powers we have to disperse parties which breach the regulations and will enforce where necessary.
“We will not tolerate blatant disregard for the legislation which is there to help stop the spread of the virus.
“The majority of people have been complying with the law and we know that public confidence in the policing approach we have taken is high.
“Our approach throughout the pandemic has been to engage with the public, explain the legislation and guidance, and encourage compliance, only using enforcement as a last resort.
“We will continue with that approach, but will not hesitate to use enforcement action where it is necessary.
“We have had almost 68,000 interactions with the public since the start of this emergency and have had to take enforcement action on only around 3600 occasions.
“However, we will not tolerate blatant disregard for the law and we have been using our powers to disperse large groups of people at house parties.
“The Chief Constable has made it clear we are asking people to take personal responsibility to do the right thing and remember the purpose of these measures is to aid the collective effort to stay safe, protect others and save lives by preventing the virus from spreading.”
After new restrictions were introduced for Lanarkshire, you should not host people from any other households in your home or make a social visit to people you do not live with in their home no matter where that is, unless they are in your extended household.