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Police break up illegal house party at Archway Airbnb house

Police responded to reports of a rave in the Archway area of London - PA
Police responded to reports of a rave in the Archway area of London - PA

Police had to break up an illegal house party after more than 150 people turned up to a gathering being held at an Airbnb property.

The incident happened in the Archway area of London in a smart terrace of Georgian houses where properties sell for in excess of £1.5 million.

Locals contacted the police after scores of guests began arriving on Saturday evening and loud music could be heard across the neighbourhood.

As local pubs in the area closed more people turned up and at one point it was estimated more than 150 were crammed into the house, ignoring social distancing rules.

Footage of the party, posted online, showed dozens of people in the garden of the terraced house not wearing masks.

A large number of officers could be seen entering the property, before eventually moving people away from the area.

The event, described as an "illegal rave" by one neighbour, led to police issuing a closure order against the property, which prevented people from going back inside.

"The people who came had no respect for the neighbours around them nor any respect quarantine or social distancing rules," the neighbour who filmed the party wrote underneath his video on YouTube.

He said the property had been let out on Airbnb and guests "took advantage by holding a gigantic party that quickly got out of hand".

More than 50 officers helped break up the event, which was attended by over 160 people, he claimed.

A Met Police spokeswoman said officers were called to Tavistock Terrace shortly after 11.50pm on July 31 to reports of a "large gathering of people playing loud music".

"Officers attended and spoke with the organisers, asking them to close the event," the spokeswoman said.

"A closure notice was enacted. Officers stayed on the scene while those attending began to disperse."

The Met said no arrests were made.

Chief Superintendent Roy Smith tweeted: "Officers out this evening closing down illegal and antisocial parties playing loud music into the early hours, packed groups of 150+ people risking the spread of Covid-19 and keeping poor families with young children awake at 3am. Incredibly patient & tolerant police officers.”

A spokesman for Airbnb said: “We have zero tolerance for this behaviour and have removed the guest from the platform. We are supporting the host and have offered to assist the police investigation.

"All unauthorised events are banned on Airbnb, and we have prohibited gatherings that violate current public health mandates.”

A number of other unlicensed music events took place at locations around the country, with police officers expressing concern that such raves could lead to further spike in Covid cases.

Simon Kempton, operational policing lead at the Police Federation, said: “It’s like any other large incident in that it takes a large number of officers to safely police.  “There’s added complexity in that they are often in some fairly remote areas which aren’t well resourced at the best of times, so can take a significant amount of time to marshal the number of officers needed.

“By then the event can already be well underway, and clearly the best way to police such an event is to prevent it happening in the first place.

“Demand on policing is already back to pre-Covid levels before considering the UMEs, so this is an extra level of demand which is unhelpful.

“And on top of that the fact we’re still in the midst of an epidemic. We’ve seen the consequences of spikes in infection by way of local lockdowns and there’s a real threat that this could lead to more of those.”