Two NHS nurses won compensation from the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) after a fine over socially distancing protest against NHS payment during lockdown.
Karen Reissmann, 61-year- old psychiatric nurse who worked throughout the pandemic, received £10,000 fixed penalty notification for organizing a protest on March 7, 2021 over in governmentsuggested rate 1% rise for NHS workers.
About 40 people expected to participate in the demonstration in St. Peter’s Square in central Manchester, which had to be socially distancing, with masks and hand sanitizers available.
Upon arriving at St. Peter’s Square, GMP officers warned Reissman that the protest was not permitted under Covid-19 rules and could not be held. She told those who turned around up that the demonstration was cancelled, but was still warned and fined £10,000 as the organiser.
She sued GMP along with with Patricia Gallagher, 65, is another NHS frontline nurse. who was arrested at a protest. Gallagher was later released from arrest and fined £200. for in violation of Covid-19 regulations.
Faced with having to pay fines and report yourself to your professional body Nursing and Midwifery Council, nurses instructed lawyers challenge their penalties.
GMP initially defended the £10,000 fine as “proportionate, legal, accountable and necessary”. in circumstances”.
But now GMP has admitted that Gallagher arrest was illegal and that the fines had been unlawfully imposed, and they agreed to withdraw them, said Bindmans, the nurses’ lawyer.
The police admitted that they “misunderstood the consequences.” of Covid-19 rules, Bindmans said.
” force however, refused to apologize to Ms. Reissmann for disaster caused her with a fine of £10,000 or for professional embarrassment criminal sanction caused her. The police have also refused to offer a full apology to Ms. Gallagher for her arrest and the impact it had on her,” Bindmans said. in statement.
Reissmann said: “In March 2021, there were 100,000 unfilled positions in the NHS. When government offered 1% payment rise injured and debilitated healthcare workers after year of fighting the pandemic, we knew that this situation would only get worse. We needed to protest to protect the NHS. I got fined 200 times in amount of the fine that Boris Johnson received. Why, when the protest I organized was legal and meant to improve the world, no party in flagrant abuse of in rules?
She is added: “The NHS now has 110,000 unfilled vacancies. Over 100,000 people died in UK from Covid-19. Millions on NHS waiting lists. prime minister should resign over this, as well as his party.”
Emily-Jade Defriend, a nurses advocate, said: “The Covid-19 regulations did not impose a complete ban. on protest; protest is an important right in functioning democracy and constituted a “reasonable justification” for assembly. Greater Manchester Police got it wrong in imposing criminal sanctions on Miss Reissmann and Miss Gallagher. The meeting organized by Mrs. Reissmann was not frivolous, it was an important event. public statement about how NHS workers were treated for more than just weekly.”
representative for GMP said: “GMP can confirm that an agreement was reached after 61-year- an elderly woman was fined after a protest on March 7, 2021”.
