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Police break up nighttime gathering of over 300 people in Little Bay

Police broke up a gathering of over 300 people in Little Bay on Friday night, warning that if social distancing advice and civil contingency rules were ignored, they would be forced to restrict access to such areas or even close them off.

The Royal Gibraltar Police, assisted by the Gibraltar Defence Police and HM Customs, attended Little Bay just hours after the lockdown rules were eased at midnight on Thursday.

Although restrictions on freedom of movement have been lifted, the current rules restrict gatherings to more than 12 people, with additional advice that people should try and keep their “social bubble” to the same 12 people if possible.

Additionally, the core message from the authorities remains that the virus is still active in the community and that staying indoors is the best way remain safe and keep the spread of infection under control.

On Friday night, however, that message appears to have been missed by many.

“The large crowd were drinking alcohol and socialising in close proximity to each other and were not adhering to social distancing,” the RGP said in a statement.

“Upon engaging with our officers they were fully compliant and dispersed from the area with access to Little Bay then restricted overnight, in order to prevent any further gatherings taking place.”

“These types of gatherings in such large numbers are completely unacceptable and apart from being in breach of current regulations, they are contrary to public health advice to maintain social distancing in order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus.”

“The public are advised that these types of incidents may lead to some areas being restricted or closed off in the future, as part of our continued community protection measures.”

The RGP thanked the GDP and Customs for their assistance and collaboration when dealing with the incident.