Group of 100 hanging out in Apeldoorn campsite busted for social distancing violations

Police in Apeldoorn broke up a group of over a hundred people who had converged on a caravan park in defiance of the country’s social distancing rules. “Too many people, too close together,” was how police described the scene at Laan van Zodiac on Friday night.

Officers arriving on scene began enforcing the rules, meant to slow the spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands. Authorities on the ground were aided by a police helicopter circling above monitoring the scene.

The police said they would be issuing several fines for violating the rules, with some offenders already known to police, a spokesperson told local media outlets there. An adult may be fined 390 euros for being in a group of more than two people, and closer than 1.5 meters to someone who does not live in their household.

Minor children may be fined 95 euros. A business which makes such gatherings possible faces penalties of up to four thousand euros.

Apeldoorn’s mayor, Ton Heerts, said on Twitter that, “anyone who thinks the corona-rules applies only to others is mistaken.”