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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered a crackdown on a large, tightly packed Hasidic Jewish funeral and lashed out at the mourners who gathered in defiance of social distancing rules intended to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Key points:
- There have been more than 58,000 deaths in the US, with 17,000 in NYC
- Social media images show hundreds of people on the street for rabbi's funeral
- Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed the gathering as "absolutely unacceptable"
The Mayor was incredulous at the lack of physical distancing that took place despite the US suffering more cases than anywhere else from the pandemic.
The country has around a third of the world's more than 3 million coronavirus infections and more than 58,000 deaths — with more than 17,000 in New York City.
Images posted on social media show hundreds of people on the street for what was reportedly a funeral for a rabbi who had died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Some but not all of the mourners wore face coverings.
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"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed," Mr de Blasio tweeted on Tuesday (local time) after police dispersed the funeral in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
In another tweet, Mr de Blasio said: "Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic."
He said he went to the scene to ensure that the crowd was broken up and added: "What I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus."
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A police spokesman said that the crowd was dispersed without arrests.
Critics accused Mr de Blasio of singling out the Orthodox Jewish community for censure when others have violated physical distancing regulations as well.
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"This has to be a joke," City Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who represents a large Orthodox Jewish constituency, tweeted.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that generalising about the whole Jewish population of New York City "is outrageous especially when so many are scapegoating Jews".
Others noted the crowds that gathered on Tuesday to watch a flyover by the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds to honour healthcare workers.
Mr De Blasio was also heckled this week in a video posted online.
He was being criticised while on a walk with his wife in a park for "non-essential travel".
