Moment bride is arrested and bundled into police car as cops bust coronavirus lockdown wedding
A NEWLYWED couple ended their big day bundled into the back of a police car after cops raided their wedding for flouting the coronavirus lockdown.
Armed police stormed the ceremony while the unnamed couple were going through their vows - with pictures showing the tooled up cops corralling the wedding guests.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
The two ended up getting married and jailed on the same day - being taken to the eMpangeni police station in South Africa.
Videos showed the groom in his suit and the bride in her wedding dress - complete with train and veil - getting put into a police van.
Police stormed the wedding brandishing guns and face masks as South Africa enters the second week of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
Cops also arrested 53 wedding guests and the priest who conducted the ceremony on Sunday, April 5, as they drove home the need for quarantine.
One guest said: "The police and soldiers were armed to the teeth and they stormed the tent where the wedding was taking place and arrested everyone."
Police said the newlyweds spent "their honeymoon under stringent bail conditions”.
It came after another wedding - 70 miles away in Nkandla - was stormed by South African police on March 28 .
Newlyweds Jabulani Zulu, 48, and his wife, Nomthandazo, 38, were arrested for breaching the lockdown.
The Mr and Mrs Zulu were reportedly released on bail of R1,000 (£44.58).
South Africa has seen 1,749 people infected, and 17 people have been killed in the pandemic.
Local publication Independent Online reported that a concerned member of the public contacted the police over the wedding.
The lockdown ceremonies prompted the Nkandla mayor Thami Ntuli to remind people of the importance of staying home.
Mayor Ntuli said: “People should know that a national shutdown was not made for specific people, but for all of us.
"The aim behind it is to stop the spread of coronavirus
“This is meant to save lives and we need to stand behind our government irrespective of our political differences.”
He added: “This has nothing to do with politics, so I urge everyone to follow all instructions and stay at home during this national shutdown.”
The mayor explained people are still not listening to lockdown measures despite a widespread information campaign.
Local officials distributed hand sanitiser at taxi and bus ranks in a drive to encourage people to obey the three-week lockdown.
Appearing on TV channel ENCA, police spokesman Vish Naidoo said: “When they got there they arrested the pastor, the bridal couple as well as other people.”
The anchor then asked: “Was the pastor not aware that we are in a lockdown at the present moment?”
Mr Naidoo replied: “Well, I think the whole nation is aware. But people are still trying to take chances not realising the seriousness of this virus.
“For now I do not think they can have a reasonable explanation for continuing with that wedding.
“We will be interviewing each one individually and the charges will be put to them.
“They have definitely contravened the regulations of the Disaster Management Act, but the question is exactly which charges will be brought against them.”
The cop closed by saying “if people don’t conform, we will be arresting them”.
South African newspaper The Times also reported the weddings have sparked anger among locals.
Other people were also spotted jogging, cycling and even holding traditional barbecues - known as braais - despite the lockdown.
One resident said: “We cannot have social ill discipline when people's lives are at stake.
“South Africans appear to be taking the pandemic way too lightly without realising that we could have significant consequences to both life and our economy.
“Both my wife and I have compromised immune systems, me more than her.
“My physician has warned that the probability of me dying, should I become infected, is quite high, so I have been in lockdown for 11 days already and my wife for eight days.”
More than 1.4million people have been infected worldwide amid the outbreak, which has claimed more than 83,000 lives.
The US remains the worst impacted, with more than 400,000 cases and almost 13,000 deaths, as it suffered its deadliest day yesterday.
US President Donald Trump meanwhile threatened to freeze funding for the World Health Organisation which he accused of being “China-centric”.
The Chinese city Wuhan, where the virus originated, yesterday lifted quarantine for the first time since the outbreak.
Scientists continue to try and find the source of the bug which has left more than half the world in some form of lockdown.
Europe remains badly impacted by the virus, with Britain, France, Spain and Italy all suffering as the peak of the pandemic sweeps the continent.