Police could break up celebrations that break rules, says commissioner

POLICE COULD break up Covid rule- breakers’ Christmas dinners, a police and crime commissioner has warned.

West Midlands commissioner David Jamieson said officers would have to enforce any lockdown rules set by the Government

over the festive period, as he also spoke of his fears of a “time bomb” of unrest.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Jamieson said: “If we think there’s large groups of people gathering where they shouldn’t be, then police will have to intervene.

“If, again, there’s flagrant breaking of the rules, then the police would have to enforce.

“It’s not the police’s job to stop people enjoying their Christmas.

“However, we are there to enforce the rules that the Government makes, and if the Government makes those rules then the Government has to explain that to the public.”

Mr Jamieson said he feared that “frustration” with any potential Christmas restrictions after months of Covid controls may also boil over into civil unrest and even riots.

“We’re sitting on a time bomb here,” he said.

“We’re getting very near the stage where you could see a considerable explosion of frustration and energy.

“Things are very on the edge in a lot of communities and it wouldn’t take very much to spark off unrest, riots, damage.”

Chairman of the National Police Chiefs Council ( NPCC) Martin Hewitt said it was “not very sensible” to speculate on what regulations would be in force by Christmas, because of the fastmoving situation in different parts of the country.

He said: “We don’t know what regulations will be in place at any point going forward.

“When we do know those regulations, we will police the law to those regulations.”