Southwark Cathedral’s burial ground has been left covered in litter and drug paraphernalia after a weekend of chaotic scenes across the UK as the lockdown looked to be well and truly over.
Across the London councils and the emergency services have struggled to contain a series of unlicensed parties and raves.
Residents are growing increasingly fed up by extremely high levels of rubbish and littering in parks and green spaces.
In the last few days thousands flocked to beaches, beauty spots and parks – with a major incident declared towards the end of last week after thousands travelled to Dorset.
In London, parks and residential streets were also left covered with drinks bottles, food packaging, cigarettes, laughing gas canisters and even needles.
It is believed the rubbish in Southwark Cathedral’s ground had been thrown over by people drinking and socialising nearby.
The cathedral’s gardener spent an hour clearing the mess up.
“We want people to enjoy themselves but please respect the environment, our community, our sacred space and each other,” said Reverend Andrew Nunn, the dean of Southwark.