Hasidic Jews ignored social distancing rules during the coronavirus lockdown as hundreds gathered to celebrate a sacred festival in their religious calendar.
Around 300 revellers were spotted gathering in Stamford Hill, north London, this evening, despite Government advice that only one person from each household can meet as Britain eases its restrictions.
The crowd danced as they gathered in an estate in the borough of Hackney, with one attendee sporting a gorilla mask.
Latest figures reveal that 440 Jews have died of covid-19. Reports early last month said that the community had been hit six times harder than other Britons, accounting for 2.3 per cent of coronavirus deaths while comprising just 0.4 per cent of the population.
It is thought that this is partly due to the annul Purim festival which brought large numbers of Jews together in the final days before lockdown, when some were asymptomatic carriers of the disease.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews told those of the faith to do 'everything you can to follow the Government's guidelines and stay home unless you absolutely cannot' back in March.
Pictures emerged this evening as the community marks the end of the Lag B'Omer festival, which began yesterday.
The celebration is the 33rd day of a mourning period known as the Counting of the Omer. The Counting of the Omer spans the 44 days between Passover and Shavuot.
There are different interpretations as to the significance and meaning of the Lag B'Omer celebration.
For some, it is a day of celebration that commemorates Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai revealing the deepest secrets of the Kabbalah.
But other adherents believe that the festival is held on the anniversary of the ending of a plague that killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's disciples.
The images surfaced just weeks after 40 guests attended an extravagant Jewish wedding in the middle of lockdown and mocked police when they tried to intervene by offering them a beer.
Extraordinary footage shows the guests of Mimi Friedlander and Zevi Begal gathering in the garden of a large north London home.
They were treated to a luxurious meal laid out on long tables covered in white tablecloths, with orchids lavishly draped around the room.
The videos then captured the moment the police entered the premises to try and break up the party, only to be met by people offering them drinks and laughing.
Father-of-the-bride Moishe Friedlander was chairman of the Hackney Metropolitan police Independent Advisory Group for five years. Today he confirmed that the outcry over the wedding has forced him to resign.
'It's all over now,' he told MailOnline. 'I've stepped down as chairman. Let's all move on with our lives.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
