Charedi lockdown party

MEMBERS OF Stamford Hill’s Strictly Orthodox community were this week again caught ignoring social distancing rules after a large group was photographed celebrating the Lag B’Omer festival.

Around 300 men and boys gathered outside a housing estate in Hackney for the annual celebrations on Tuesday evening. One person, who had donned a gorilla mask, was seen on the shoulders of another man who was dancing.

Other local Charedi men were pictured with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them during festivities - openly flaunting strict rules on avoiding contact.

Pictures of the celebrations were published by MailOnline as the Stamford Hill community marked the end of the Lag B’Omer festival. The celebration is the 33rd day of the mourning period known as the Counting of the Omer which spans the 44 days between Passover and Shavuot.

Figures published yesterday by the Board of Deputies showed that 440 British Jews have now died of Covid-19.

While many in the strictly Orthodox community have remained vigilant, there have been frequent smaller events – including a wedding in a house in Golders Green and reports of mourners gathering in large numbers for funerals – which have raised concern.

It is also thought the Purim festival in March, which brought large numbers of Jews together in the days before the lockdown, was another factor in causing the virus to spread among the community.