‘Do you know how bad the coronavirus is?’: Mexico police crackdown on underground parties

Police in Ecatepec raided the same house for the third time to break up a party with mask-less people drinking beer and dancing to a DJ

Mexico is one of the hardest hit nations, with more than 117,000 dead and 1.3 million known Covid-19 infections

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Attendees of a clandestine party leave the house after authorities stormed it in Ecatepec in the State of Mexico. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 20 Dec 2020Updated: 11:30am, 20 Dec 2020

Police in one suburb of Mexico City are playing cat and mouse with revellers at underground parties that flout coronavirus restrictions.

On Friday, for instance, authorities in the town of Ecatepec raided the same house for the third time to break up a party with mask-less people drinking beer and dancing to a DJ. The festivities, like others held on the sly, had been advertised on social media.

“Do you know how bad the coronavirus is?” an officer asked the host of the party, as guests filed out to the street under the gaze of some 30 police, soldiers, firefighters and members of the National Guard.

As the pandemic rages around the world, Mexico is one of the hardest hit nations, with more than 117,000 dead and 1.3 million known infections. Cases are rising sharply.

Authorities in the town of Ecatepec raided the same house for the third time to break up a clandestine party. Photo: AFP

It is so bad in Mexico City and the neighbouring state of Mexico that on Friday the mayor suspended all non-essential activities.