ATHENS – Greek police moved in to break up a party at a small hotel where people were celebrating and defying a second lockdown aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Young party-goers had already been blamed for spreading the Coronavirus for refusing to wear masks and stay safe social distances from each other, some saying outright the Coronavirus was an old person's disease they couldn't catch.

About 30 people were at the party when the police came in at about 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 9, two days after a second shutdown began in which people were supposed to stay home except for permissible trips such as supermarkets and doctors.

The party organizer, a 24-year-old woman, was charged under article 285 of the penal code regarding the violation of measures for prevention of diseases and for disturbing the peace, said Kathimerini.

While the party was going on, health authorities announced 1,914 new cases of the coronavirus, including a record 35 deaths, with 1,063 Intensive Care Units (ICU's) occupied, 259 with Coronavirus patients.

Before Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis imposed the second lockdown, his government directed police not to break up large gatherings and outdoor parties at night in public squares where people went when bars and nightclubs closed at midnight during a curfew in place then.