Nineteen people were discovered by police locked in a bedroom in a house in the Holyland in Belfast during a ‘noisy’ house party, resulting in COVID-19 notices.
The crowd was discovered this morning around 12:40am (11 November) in Penrose Street – the party reportedly re-started at 8am during which, eight further Covid notices were handed out.
Police handed out 40 Covid 1 notices and four Covid 2 notices at the house in south Belfast when they arrived just before 1am.
Two people also received fixed penalty notices for obstructing police.
Sergeant Stuart Jackson said police received a report about a large, noisy house party in Penrose Street.
At one point, 19 people locked themselves in a bedroom and initially refused to come out. A further two people were found hiding in the attic.
“After issuing 32 Covid 1 notices, four Covid 2 notices and two fixed penalty tickets, police officers remained at the scene until people left the area. Just after 8.15am this morning, police received a further complaint that a party had restarted at the same address. Police again attended and issued a further eight Covid 1 notices,” said Sergeant Stuart Jackson.
He said across Northern Ireland, people are making sacrifices, not visiting family members or friends and businesses have temporarily closed.
“The young people congregating or travelling to this area really need to consider their actions for their own health and that of the community of this residential area. Where appropriate, we will now engage with our university and further education partners, who may consider taking action if any of their students were involved with this party,” he added.