Police are bracing for violence and chaos as England comes out of lockdown - amid warnings frustration from months of restrictions could lead to widespread disorder.
On Monday Boris Johnson said he hopes to be able to lift all lockdown restrictions by June 21 if Covid cases drop and the vaccine rollout is a success.
In the meantime pubs are expected to start serving people outdoors in April, with indoor gatherings permitted the following month, if all goes well.
Many people are already planning to celebrate in the summer, but this has made police forces up and down the country nervous.
Today Martin Hewitt, who chairs the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said he anticipates "challenging" months as restrictions are loosened.
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He said at a press conference: “We all have to accept there is a psychological impact when people see those dates and think about those, and start to project forward to what they might be able to do - all those occasions and events, that’s inevitable.
“There is a potential that people think the end is coming and they can be a little bit more relaxed about how they abide by the rules.
"I would say to people, try to resist that temptation.”
And he warned that enforcement will be harder as rules change and people are able to drink outside their homes after months of being told to stay at home.
“When you have many more people out on the street, you have much more chance you’re going to get people coming together and violent situations occurring,” Mr Hewitt said.
“We are thinking about that and planning how we would manage that … we all know that the night time economy and the consumption of alcohol and other substances leads to violent behaviour."
He said that patrols would be stepped up by police chiefs on key dates when lockdown eases, stating: “We will be ready to deal with what we need to deal with."
The NPCC boss said that lockdown fatigue is leading to an increase in numbers being fined for breaking rules.
Mr Hewitt said there had always been a "hard core" of people who had chosen not to follow the rules, adding: "But I think it probably is fair to say that, and I've used the phrase before, there is no question there is a fatigue in the country, among the population.
"We've been living with this for 11 months, it's really hard, it's very restrictive on people's lives.
"The numbers say there have been more people who have breached the rules and in the circumstances (they) have not taken the encouragement we've given them, we've given them a ticket, bearing in mind a lot of those tickets would've gone out in mass gathering-type events."
