FURY ACROSS THE MERSEY
‘IDIOTS’ PARTYING OUTSIDE PUBS PUT LIVES AT RISK, SAY CITY CHIEFS
CROWDS of ‘idiots’ seen partying outside Liverpool pubs after they shut for at least a month under new Covid rules have been slammed for putting lives at risk.
Revellers threw drinks, ignored social distancing rules and blocked a police car sent to disperse them as bars emptied at 10pm on Tuesday.
It was a last chance for a big night out in the city, as venues that don’t serve ‘substantial meals’ are now closed under the toughest tier three restrictions.
But Steve Rotheram, Liverpool’s metro mayor, said he was ‘ashamed’ to see the scenes in Concert Square.
He said the revellers risked ‘making the situation worse and the restrictions last even longer’. Mr Rotheram added: ‘It is sheer madness for people to put themselves in that situation, potentially becoming spreaders of this terrible disease.
‘Nobody wants to curtail freedoms or damage the economy but the restrictions are the law, and we have to all abide by them. The alternative is to see our city overrun with sickness and death, and that is no choice at all.’
The party-goers were also blasted by city councillor Nick Small, who tweeted: ‘Idiots putting themselves, their friends, families and everyone else at risk, destroying jobs and our hospitality sector while they do it.’
Documentary-maker Layla Wright said she felt ‘gutted for everyone sticking to the
rules’. And some Liverpudlians blamed students at the city’s universities for the mayhem. One wrote: ‘Can everyone in concert square go home. And when I say home I mean home home. Not their student gaffs. Bunch of scruffs.’
Ch Supt Peter Costello, of Merseyside Police, said the crowds were dispersed ‘quickly and safely’.
Meanwhile, Mr Rotheram revealed the number of Covid patients in city hospitals has risen from 20 to 440 in six weeks. Cllr Paul Brant said intensive care beds were more than 90 per cent full. ‘At the current rate of increase, we would expect Liverpool to surpass the peak of the first wave within the next seven to ten days,’ he said.