A Roman Catholic Good Friday service was shut down by British police in South London. Worshipgoers were threatened with fines and arrest if they were to continue the time-honored tradition of holding religious services on Good Friday.
In a video posted to Twitter you can see a police officer address the congregation letting them know that the “gathering” was “unlawful under the Coronavirus regulations we have currently.”
The officer went on to say “You are not allowed to meet with this many people under law.”
Police broke up a Good Friday service in the United Kingdom.
If you ever needed an example of why the First Amendment is important… pic.twitter.com/37IEvQJsTj
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) April 3, 2021
As Sky News reported, “The church has criticized the police for interrupting the service, saying it believes the officers ‘brutally exceeded their powers by issuing their warrant for no good reason’ because ‘all government requirements were met.’”
IN a statement put out by the police office “Officers attended and found a large number of people inside the church. Some people were not wearing masks and those present were clearly not socially distanced.” The statement continued by saying “We are particularly concerned about the risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus as a result of large indoor gatherings at which people are not socially distanced and some are not wearing masks.”
