(JTA) — Haredi Jews in London have held more than 50 weddings in violation of emergency measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, a local Jewish paper reported.
All of the weddings have had 150-200 guests, and at one of them the bride had been tested for the coronavirus and been found positive, according to an examination of 2020 violations in northern London by the Jewish News.
The expose follows widespread indignation over the Jan. 21 wedding at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ School in London. Several guests were fined, after more than 400 of them dispersed when police showed up.
The same school, whose former principal died of COVID-19, also hosted a wedding on Jan. 17, according to The Jewish News.
“These illegal weddings have been going on for 10 months. We’re not talking about one or two. We are talking multiple weddings every day,” one source, who was not named, told the paper.
A venue called Belz Hall hosts illegal weddings two floors below ground level, sources told the Jewish News. “There are up to four weddings a week there, Monday to Thursday,” another source told the paper, which confirmed the information with three other people.
Organizers at some events employ lookouts who warn the guests if they spot police, the report said.
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