Two NHS nurses have earned compensation from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) after being fined for a socially distant protest over NHS pay during the blockade.
Karen Reissmann, a 61-year-old mental health nurse who worked throughout the pandemic, received a £ 10,000 fixed penalty notice to organize the March 7, 2021 protest over the 1% pay rise proposed by the government for NHS workers.
About 40 people were expected to attend the rally in St Peter’s Square in central Manchester, which was to be socially distanced, with masks and hand sanitizers available.
After arriving at St. Peter’s Square, GMP agents warned Reissmann that the protest was not allowed by Covid-19 regulations and could not continue. She told attendees that the show was canceled, but was still warned and fined £ 10,000 as organizer.
He sued GMP along with 65-year-old Patricia Gallagher, another NHS front-line nurse who was arrested in protest. Gallagher was later arrested and fined £ 200 for violating Covid-19 regulations.
Faced with having to pay fines and report to their professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the nurses instructed the lawyers to challenge their fines.
GMP initially defended the £ 10,000 fine as “proportionate, legal, responsible and necessary in the circumstances”.
But GMP has now accepted that Gallagher’s arrest was illegal and that the fines were imposed illegally, and they have agreed to withdraw them, said Bindmans, the nurses’ lawyers.
Police admitted they had “misunderstood the effects” of the Covid-19 regulations, Bindmans said.
“The force, however, refused to apologize to Mrs Reissmann for the anguish caused by the £ 10,000 fine or for the professional embarrassment caused by the criminal sanction. The police also refused. to apologize to Ms. Gallagher for her arrest and the impact this had on her, “Bindmans said in a statement.
Reissmann said: “In March 2021, the NHS had 100,000 unfilled vacancies. When the government offered a 1% pay rise to traumatized and exhausted health workers after a year of fighting the pandemic, we knew that situation would only get worse We had to protest to protect the NHS I received a fine 200 times the amount of the fine Boris Johnson received.Why , not participating in a flagrant abuse of the rules?
He added: “The NHS now has 110,000 vacancies. More than 100,000 people have died in the UK from Covid-19. Millions are on the NHS waiting lists. The Prime Minister should resign for this, as well as the their parties “.
Emily-Jade Defriend, the nurses’ lawyer, said: “Covid-19 regulations did not introduce a general ban on protest; protest is an important right in a functioning democracy and was a” reasonable excuse. ” Greater Manchester police were wrong to impose criminal sanctions on Mrs Reissmann and Mrs Gallagher.The meeting, which was not frivolous, was an important public statement on how the NHS workers beyond the weekly applause. “
A GMP spokesman said: “GMP can confirm that an agreement has been reached after a 61-year-old woman was fined following a protest on March 7, 2021.”