Police disperse wedding with 300 people for breaking COVID-19 rules, NY officials say
New York City deputies broke up an indoor wedding with around 300 people over the weekend for flouting coronavirus rules, officials said.
The “illegal gathering,” with 284 people inside, was shut down by sheriff’s deputies on Friday in Woodside, Queens for violating “emergency orders and unlicensed security,” the New York City Sheriff’s Office said in a Twitter post. Two people were charged with “multiple offenses,” officials said.
The names of those facing charges were not released by authorities.
An anonymous social distancing complaint resulted in deputies responding to the gathering on Garfield Avenue, NBC New York reported. They found “large groups of people entering the location through what appears to be an indoor parking area as well as loud music coming from the location.”
The manager and owner of Royal Elite Palace, the venue, faces multiple misdemeanor changes, according to WABC. The venue was closed on Saturday but neighbors told the station “there have been large parties on the avenue for months.”
“Every day they got a party over there, every day,” Dominic Aviles told CBS2.
Royal Elite Palace could not be reached for comment by McClatchy News.
New York City officials have threatened to implement lockdowns on regions with rising coronavirus rates, The New York Post reported.
Indoor religious gatherings at 33% capacity and gatherings of 50 people are currently allowed in New York.
Large gatherings in which it’s hard to maintain social distancing are considered “highest risk” for spreading COVID-19, according to the CDC.
