What pandemic? Riot police is called in to break up hundreds of revellers dressed in Santa hats at an epic Christmas Day beach party despite calls to avoid large gatherings – as Sydney’s COVID-19 cluster grows
Police have been forced to break up a massive crowd of Christmas Day revellers partying at a popular Sydney beach.
Extraordinary scenes were seen at at Bronte Beach in the city’s east on Friday afternoon, where hundreds of Sydneysiders gathered to celebrate Christmas with friends, despite a coronavirus outbreak which continues to spread across the city.
As the Sydney outbreak grew 118 total cases, footage has emerged of revellers at Bronte wearing festive Santa hats and without masks dancing closely together and on each others’ shoulders in a large group, where social distancing was non-existent.
Hundreds of Christmas revellers partied at Bronte Beach on Friday
‘Not sure these peeps got the COVID memo,’ a concerned local captioned a video of the disturbing scenes.
Police are seen trying to dispersing the massive crowd and ordering revellers to move along in another video posted on Instagram.
NSW Police confirmed officers were called to Bronte at around 3pm.
‘Police were called to disperse a large crowd at the location,’ a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia
No other details from police are currently available.
Police remain at the scene on Friday night to keep a watchful eye on a handful of revellers who chose to stay.
Social distancing was non-existent at Bronte as crowds danced closely together
Premier Gladys Berejiklian issued a desperate plea for Sydneysiders to restrict their movements over the long weekend and to avoid the Boxing Day sale on Saturday.
‘We’d prefer it if people did not go to the CBD tomorrow because then you have people from all over Sydney coming to the one location and it only takes one or two cases for it to then spread everywhere else – and we don’t want to see that happen,’ she said on Friday.
‘I cannot stress enough how urgent the people to reduce their mobility, not to undertake any activity unless they absolutely have to and please avoid the CBD where you can.
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