GREATER Manchester Police has refused to back down over fining a nurse £10,000 for organising a protest during lockdown despite lawyers insisting that officers were wrong to issue the penalty. 

Cops hit front-line worker Karen Reissmann with the eye-watering fine after she organised a socially distanced demonstration over the government’s proposed 1 per cent NHS pay “insult” in March. 

Earlier this month London law firm Bindmans wrote to the force accusing officers of having wrongly interpreted Covid-19 regulations on gatherings, saying it should withdraw the penalty. 

But the force has refused and is pushing ahead with a prosecution. In a written response, it said police lawyers had reviewed the penalty and concluded that it was “satisfied that the issue was proportionate, legal, accountable and necessary in the circumstances.” 

Ms Reissmann, a nurse for 39 years, told the Guardian at the weekend: “I just really don’t understand why they are pursuing me after all that has happened. Why are they doing this? It’s very odd for the police not to have realised their position.”

A crowdfunder set up in solidarity with the nurse raised the £10,000 total within days.