The organizer of a protest against the proposed 1% wage increase for NHS workers was fined £ 10,000 by the police.
Officials participated in the demonstration in Manchester city center around noon on Sunday.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said about 40 people had gathered “in violation of current blockade legislation”.
Police officers take one of the protesters away
Police talk to NHS employee Karen Reissmann after stopping the protest
The protest organizer, a 61-year-old woman, received a £ 10,000 fixed sentence notice, the force said.
A 65-year-old woman was arrested for failing to provide details after refusing to leave, according to the GMP.
She later provided details and was released from prison and received a £ 200 fixed penalty notice, she added.
Superintendent Caroline Hemingway said the officers were met with “a degree of non-compliance,” meaning that fines were imposed.
Protesters gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Manchester
She urged the public to maintain social distance and follow coronavirus laws “regardless of someone’s sympathies for the cause of a protest”.
Supt Hemingway said: “With the positive pace of schools reopening tomorrow, it is vital that people continue to follow government legislation on social distance and avoid meeting illegally in large numbers.
“Regardless of our sympathies for the cause of a protest, we ask the public to maintain social distance and follow the legislation to prevent an increase in infections and provide the best possible chance for further easing of restrictions in the coming weeks.”
A protester holds a sign referring to the proposed 1% wage increase for NHS workers
She added: “We sought to involve and peacefully disperse the participants in this afternoon’s protest, explaining that the meeting was in violation of the government’s blocking rules.
“Unfortunately, the officers were received with a degree of non-compliance and, therefore, it was necessary to enforce the issued FPNs.”
Boris Johnson defended the proposed 1% salary increase to the NHS team after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) described the offer as “a slap in the face”.
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‘We are giving the NHS heroic as much as we can’
The Prime Minister said: “What we have been doing is trying to give them as much as we can at the moment.
“The independent salary review body will obviously analyze what we have proposed and return.
“Don’t forget that there has been a wage freeze in the public sector, we are in very difficult times.”
The RCN, which called for a 12.5% salary increase for nurses, said that a 1% salary increase would amount to just £ 3.50 extra per week in payment for an experienced nurse.
A sign outside Salford Royal Hospital on Friday
At an emergency meeting on Friday, union leaders voted to create an immediate £ 35 million industrial action fund if members wanted to go on strike.
Patricia Marquis, RCN’s Southeast Regional Director, said there was a “real risk” that “a significant number of experienced nurses will see an end to the pandemic. [and think] this is enough “.
NHS providers, who represent NHS funds in England, said that a long-term plan established by the government presupposes a salary increase of more than 2% for health workers in 2021/22, claiming that it was “enshrined in the law “.