Police in Manchester have issued a dispersal order covering the entire city centre in a bid to stop the mass outdoor parties that have been taking place since lockdown was eased on Monday.
The ruling will allow officers to tell people to leave the area or face arrest if it is believed they may be about to break the law – such as by illegally gathering in a group of more than six.
It comes after hundreds of revellers gathered at the city’s Castlefield Bowl on Wednesday night, despite such mass meetings remaining banned under continuing coronavirus rules.
Officers had to break up the rave which was so flagrantly breaching restrictions that an actual DJ was playing a set. Litter – including bottles, cans, take-away food wrappers and laughing gas cannisters – were all left in the area afterwards.
Now, the new order will run until 3pm on Saturday in an apparent attempt to stop similar gathering during at least the first half of the Easter period.
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Announcing the order, Inspector Jonathan Shilvock of Greater Manchester Police, said: “We are still in the midst of a pandemic.”
He added: “With the bank holiday weekend and Easter holidays taking place, I would like to remind everyone of the importance of making sure your celebrations comply with the legislation. Please be considerate of others.”
Pat Karney, the council's city centre spokesperson, added: “We don't need another rave like Castlefield…Too many people think the pandemic is over. Covid cases in GM tell us it's not."
The new dispersal order covers everywhere within the inner ring road plus parts of Ancoats, while police say they are actively hunting the organisares of the Castlefield Bowl event.
Manchester is not the only place to have experienced such scenes this week as the easing of restrictions coincided with especially good weather.
In Nottingham, two green spaces – the Arboretum and Lenton Recreation Ground – were closed amid chaotic and boozy scenes on Tuesday night, while in Sheffield, a video of the city’s Endcliffe Park left covered in tonnes of rubbish went viral.
