Hundreds of youngsters party through the night at illegal house rave because police were ‘too busy’ to break it up
- Youths flouted Covid rules and partied the night away in the house and garden
- Neighbours shocked when ‘hundreds’ of young people turned up to the party
- Party was organised on Saturday night as a ‘last hurrah’ before the Rule of Six
Police failed to break up a 100-strong house rave in Brighton at the weekend claiming they were too busy.
Youths flouted Covid rules and partied the night away in the house and garden and spilled out onto the street as desperate neighbours called police only to be told it was not a priority.
Residents were shocked when ‘hundreds’ of young people turned up to the party, contravening all social distancing rules.
The event was organised on Saturday night as a ‘last hurrah’ before the Rule of Six was introduced.
Dozens of youths piled into the terraced house while others were drinking in the gardens, clearly flouting social distancing rules
Dozens of youths piled into the terraced house while others were drinking in the gardens, clearly flouting social distancing rules.
New rules limiting gatherings to six people were brought in on Monday, two days after the party, in a bid to tackle a large increase in coronavirus cases.
But neighbours were furious police failed to respond to their calls saying they were too busy.
A resident said: ‘It’s an absolute shambles. If the police aren’t going to respond to flagrant breaches of Covid laws then who will. With the number of Covid cases going up I really fear for the future.’
Another said: ‘I was really, really shocked. There were youths all over the house, garden and street and none of them were social distancing or wearing masks.
‘I mean what clearer example of a breach of the rules do the police want? If they won’t turn out to this they won’t turn out for anything.’
Posting on Facebook, Tim Nicholls said: ‘So much for the police enforcing the rules. If they are not going to bother, no-one else will and we will get another lockdown.’
Neighbours estimate there were around 100 youths in the house, gardens and street at the peak of the party.
Sussex Police said they were called to the party at around 11.30pm but were too busy to attend.
A spokeswoman said: ‘The caller was concerned that it was breaching Covid-19 guidelines around gathering.
‘The caller was told that due to high demand and a number of grade one calls we were responding to at this time in the city, we would be unable to attend.
‘However the report was sent to local prevention officers for their awareness.’