A family was left “inconsolable” after armed police officers stormed a church where they were holding a funeral service for their deceased family member amid coronavirus lockdown.
As Helen Kolovos from Victoria, Australia, explained, she and her closest family members held a funeral for her father when the cops rushed into the church to enforce the lockdown rule that dictates a maximum of ten people can attend a funeral.
According to the grieving daughter, the officers didn’t pay any respects to her deceased father and immediately proceeded with a headcount.
As Kolovos added, she and her family were in compliance with the limit and didn’t exceed the ten-person boundary. In addition, all the family members who attended the funeral allegedly sat on different benches.
“Being from a Greek family it was already mission impossible to do that, but we did, we literally had to pick and choose our own family and say you can come, you can’t come,” the woman said in an interview with the Guardian.
Speaking of the police officers’ approach to the sensitive occasion, Kolovos added:
“The way they came in, they didn’t bow their heads or anything. They just started speaking to some of the people who were working in the church and taking notes as we’re carrying out my dad.
“Just pause what you’re doing for one moment, bow your head, just give that man a little shred of respect. I was inconsolable. That whole moment of farewelling my dad, that moment was taken away from me.”
According to social distancing regulations in Australia, a maximum of ten people can attend a funeral while only five can be present at weddings.
Meanwhile, all other social gatherings of more than two people, excluding those who belong to the same household, are strictly prohibited, whereas people can only leave their homes to buy essentials, exercise, go to work, or attend a medical appointment.
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Replaced!