Police officers responded to 405 house parties held across Scotland during the weekend, following reports of alleged breaches of coronavirus regulations.
Six people were arrested and one fixed penalty notice was issued as a result of the call-outs, while the other attendees of the various parties were given advice and dispersed by the officers.
The figures were revealed by Police Scotland today as new restrictions came into effect, limiting social gatherings to a maximum of six people from two households.
Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: “The figures from this weekend show that we will use the powers we have to disperse parties which breach the regulations and will enforce where necessary.
“We will not tolerate blatant disregard for the legislation which is there to help stop the spread of the virus.”
Last weekend saw a significant increase in the number of reports of noise, public nuisance and disturbance compared to the same time last year.
Officers responded to 1,852 such reports, an increase of 41% from the same weekend in 2019.
The social gathering regulations being introduced today sees new police powers to break up house parties with more than 15 people extended to cover student accommodation.
DCC Graham said: “The majority of people have been complying with the law and we know that public confidence in the policing approach we have taken is high.
“Our approach throughout the pandemic has been to engage with the public, explain the legislation and guidance, and encourage compliance, only using enforcement as a last resort.
“We will continue with that approach, but we will not hesitate to use enforcement action where it is necessary. We have had almost 68,000 interactions with the public since the start of this emergency and have had to take enforcement action on only around 3600 occasions.
“However, we will not tolerate blatant disregard for the law, which is in place to help stop the spread of the virus, and we have been using our powers to disperse large groups of people at house parties.
“The Chief Constable has made it clear that we are asking people to take personal responsibility to do the right thing and remember the purpose of these measures is to aid the collective effort to stay safe, protect others and save lives by preventing the virus from spreading.”
