Police attended 58 house parties in Lanarkshire – including several in Rutherglen and Cambuslang – on the very weekend new restrictions were brought in to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Between Friday and Sunday, September 11 to 13, police responded to 405 house parties across Scotland, 14 per cent of which were in Lanarkshire, despite new restrictions specifically targeted at stopping the spread of coronavirus by gathering in houses.
Just hours after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the additional restrictions on the Friday, a 21-year-old man was arrested following an incident at a house party in a Lanarkshire 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 that 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 we 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, which is in place to help stop the spread of the virus, and we have been using our powers to disperse large groups of people at house parties.
“The Chief Constable has made it clear that we are asking people to take personal responsibility to do the right thing and remember that 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.”
Seargeant Scott Hunter, Community policing team, Rutherglen, thanked locals for sticking to the restrictions and said he believes engagement and explaination resolved any issues. He added: “It’s very encouraging that there is such a low number of reports within the local area and we pass our thanks to the vast majority of the residents of Rutherglen and Cambuslang who continue to comply with the regulations in these unprecendented times.”
After new restrictions were introduced for Lanarkshire on Friday, people should not visit other households or make social visits to people they do not live with no matter where that is, unless they are in their extended household.
