Police have forced entry to a property in north-east London to break up a party that officers say was attended by up to 30 people.
When officers knocked on the door at the Islington property, the revellers drew the curtains, turned off the disco ball-style lights and lowered the music, according to Scotland Yard.
Someone was heard shouting “turn it off” as the police arrived at the address.
Officers responded to reports of “lots of people coming and going” to the property at around 11pm on Thursday night, but the partygoers ignored the officers at the door.
A Metropolitan Police statement said: “Despite repeated knocking, there was no response at all and it was clear that those within were choosing to ignore them. Faced with this lack of cooperation, and in order to deal with the incident, the officers obtained a closure order under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.”
At around 1.45am, police forced entry to the property after their warnings were ignored. Although officers said they estimated there to be between 20 and 30 people in the house when they arrived, there were only 10 people, including four who lived there, by the time they entered the property.
All 10 were reported for breaching Covid-19 regulations, including a 20-year-old man who was understood to be the party’s organiser.
Inspector Alex Hope-Rollinson said: “Frankly it is shocking to see people act with such indifference for the rules, willing to put the health of their community at risk. I’m proud of the professional and intelligent way the attending officers used different areas of legislation to ensure that people who were flagrantly breaching the rules were given fixed penalty notices.”
Inspector Hope-Rollinson said officers will continue to “take enforcement action where necessary”.
