Coronavirus: Gang of Motorcyclists Ignores Mass Gathering Rules at Matamata Funeral

Up to 300 motorcycle gang members and affiliates openly broke the rules of mass coronavirus gatherings at a Matamata funeral, as several policemen watched.

Lawrence Lynch was one of the seven mourners at a funeral for his sister-in-law, who Things He agreed not to mention, Monday, where a roll-call vote was held to make sure they adhered to the mass meeting restrictions.

The next day, Lynch returned to the Matamata cemetery to put something in the grave site, only to be greeted by a bunch of mourners.

“Holy cow, there are all these bloody motorcycle gangs there. There are around 200 or 300,” Lynch said.

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“Discouraged” by the blatant rejection of the rules, Lynch asked one of the police officers for an explanation.

“They said, ‘We can’t do anything about it.’ To be honest, I don’t think the cops can do anything about it, because there were too many gang members,” Lynch said.

Then he approached the Matamata-Piako District Council.

“They said ‘it’s out of control, and we couldn’t do it [anything] so we called the police, “said Lynch.

It was difficult to limit the numbers at her sister-in-law’s funeral: Her children were unable to attend the service.

“It wasn’t very nice, I thought, but if that’s the fault, that’s the fault. That’s what bothers me.”

“If we have to sacrifice that, how come they were allowed that yesterday? It is very sad when you lose a member of your family.”

The Matamata-Piako district said it had received an application for internment at the Matamata cemetery on Tuesday.

A council spokesperson said, “We provide instructions, as we have done throughout Level 3, that 10 people would be allowed and their names must be provided in advance to be marked on arrival.”

“Later we heard rumors in the community that a large number planned to attend the funeral, so we arranged for the presence of security guards at the cemetery.”

“When the numbers started to exceed the limits set out in government guidelines, we escalated this to the police.”

Acting Police District Commander Waikato Inspector Andrew Mortimore said officers spoke to mourners involved in Tuesday’s service before it took place.

They were reminded of the Level 3 alert restrictions and encouraged to “work with the funeral director to ensure distance and appropriate controls over the numbers,” Mortimore said.

“Police personnel will follow up on those in the service who may have violated the restrictions and enforcement actions in the form of warnings or prosecutions are being considered.”

National leader Simon Bridges launched a petition calling for the “inhumane funeral and tangi rules” to be relaxed to allow up to 100 people at funerals, weddings and places of worship.

“It is not fair that there can be 30 people on a rugby field playing close contact sports, but there cannot be more than 10 people at a funeral, so they can cry together,” said Bridges.

After meetings with church leaders, funeral directors and iwi leaders in the past 24 hours, the government announced Wednesday afternoon that the number of people at funerals would be reduced to 50 people.

Starting Thursday, funeral directors can obtain a waiver to allow up to 50 people to attend a funeral, as long as the Ministry of Health is convinced that a number of public health measures can be consistently followed, such as physical distance, hand hygiene and without food. and drink congregations later.

The process will be for funeral directors to register funerals with the Ministry of Health and declare that health requirements have been met.

Health Minister David Clark said “funerals are exceptional events and have been one of the most difficult areas of restriction we have considered in trying to avoid the double tragedy of losing a loved one and spreading the virus.”