A mental health nurse who was fined £10,000 for organising an NHS protest attended another demonstration today - after it was confirmed her penalty will stand.
Karen Reissmann was handed the fine last month, despite her event complying with social distancing and being 'fully risked assessed.'
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, asked police to review the fine following the protest in response to the Government's one per cent pay offer to NHS workers.
Yesterday, Mr Burnham revealed that the review had found the fine to be 'appropriate.'
Ms Reissmann today (Friday) attended a protest held at St Peter's Square, in relation to the Government's new Crime and Policing Bill.
A number of 'Kill the Bill' demonstrations have taken place across the country over the last few weeks, in retaliation to the new bill, which would give officers more powers when policing protests.
Speaking to a crowd of around 50 people on Good Friday, Ms Reissmann criticised GMP's response to her protest, which lasted around ten minutes before being broken up.
"The response we got from police on the day was that it wasn't safe for 40 of us to be standing more than 20 metres apart in the open air, and that was somehow dangerous," she said.
"For that I received a £10,000 fine for organising that protest.
"They didn't seem to think it was a problem that the day after that, tens of thousands of people went back to school and their were parents outside every school dropping of their children."
GMP reviewed Ms Reissmann's fine at the request of the mayor but it was found to be appropriate.
"The difficulty arises when there’s no clear organiser of an event,” Mr Burnham said.
"If it’s clear who an organiser is - as was the case with the demonstration about nurses pay - in the law, it’s really clear what action should be taken against an organiser. And in all cases an opportunity was given to disperse without enforcement.
"That happened last Saturday in relation to people on the tram tracks and it happened in that instance. The opportunity was given, we understand the protest, the point has been made but we are now asking you to leave and it was at that point there was a refusal.
"In this case because there was an identifiable organiser the review has concluded that was what was required of GMP under the law. It’s important to say that the law is what GMP have got to work towards.
"In other instances there hasn’t been a designated or obvious organiser so that has made that issue of those bigger fixed penalties impossible."
The Labour mayor stated that he believed GMP have been even-handed and consistent in their approach to protests throughout the pandemic.
Last weekend, a decision was made not to intervene with a 'Kill the Bill' march through the city centre, despite protests still being illegal under Coronavirus regulations.
A number of arrests were made at the end of the demonstration, after a small group of people made their way on the tram tracks at St Peter's Square and refused to move.
As of Monday (29 March) socially distanced protests are now an exempt from the rules against large gatherings.
Speaking to the M.E.N at today's protest, Ms Reissmann said she disagreed with Mr Burnham's statement and did not believe GMP had been consistent with their approach.
"The policing decisions just seem a bit random to me," she said.
"It doesn't seem to be based on the level of risk. They just kept telling me it's unlawful and they weren't even interested in the risk assessments that I had done.
"I think the Government and the police are just trying to create the idea that these protests are out of control when that's not the case at all."
Ms Reissmann said she was yet to receive her fine through the post, but stated that she had appointed legal representation to help her fight the penalty.
"The response I received from the Assistant Chief Constable is that they had given me the fine because I was threatening the right to life," she said.
"How they think that's true I really don't know. The review that Mr Burnham has done appears to have been unsuccessful, but I haven't heard from him directly.
"I have appointed some lawyers and I plan to appeal the fine. I will fight it."
