Officers responded on Thursday evening to reports of a large rally at a school in north London, metropolitan police said in a statement on Friday.
When they entered the Stamford Hill facility, according to the statement, hundreds of people were found packed, in breach of Covid-19 regulations.
Wedding ceremonies can only be held with up to six people present, according to English government guidelines, and wedding celebrations are prohibited under the ongoing national closure.
“It was a totally unacceptable breach of the law, which is clearly in place to save lives and protect the NHS,” Detective Chief Superintendent Marcus Barnett said in the statement.
“People across the country make sacrifices by canceling or postponing weddings and other celebrations and there is no excuse for this kind of behavior.”
Police said the school’s windows had been clogged to prevent people from seeing inside and many attendees “were leaving when police arrived.”
Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville confirmed the event took place at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School. The school did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment, but the BBC reported that its facilities had been leased.
A school spokesman told the BBC: “We didn’t know the wedding was taking place.”
He added: “We are absolutely horrified by last night’s event and condemn it in the strongest terms possible.”
Its former director, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, died in April last year after contracting coronavirus.
In addition to fining the event organizer, police imposed fines of £ 200 ($ 274) on five other attendees.
“I am deeply disappointed that events of this nature continue to happen in Stamford Hill, despite the dire pandemic situation we are in and the number of lives that have already been lost in the Charedi community and across the district,” he said. Glanville. to the statement.
“We will meet with the rabbinate and our community partners over the next few days to see how we can prevent further incidents of this nature.”
Stamford Hill is home to a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, some of whose members have been criticized for violating norms of social distancing.
Community leaders had expressed disappointment over previous reports suggesting that 400 people were attending.
Metropolitan police said Friday afternoon that while “initial calls suggested about 400 people had attended the wedding, it is now estimated that about 150 people attended.”
Rabbi Herschel Gluck, president of the Stamford Hill Shomrim civil volunteer patrols, called for people to follow the rules.
“This is a time for unity, people should try to think of others and stay safe,” he told CNN by phone Friday.
“At a time when we are all making great sacrifices, this is a blatant abrogation of the responsibility to protect life and illegal behavior is boring for the vast majority of the Jewish community,” he added.
The British Jewish Board of Deputies also said it “unreservedly condemns this flagrant and shameful breach of the Covid-19 regulations, which goes against Jewish teaching that preserving life is of the highest value.”
“We are horrified by the news,” they added.
On Thursday, British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced fines of £ 800 ($ 1,100) to deal with people who continue to dispense with coronavirus restrictions by attending events and meetings.
“The science is clear: this irresponsible behavior poses a major threat to public health,” Patel said during a Downing Street briefing.
“Not just the attendees, but our wonderful police officers who attend these events to close them off,” he added. “As this latest measure demonstrates, we will not stand by as long as a small number of people put others at risk.”