A FUNDRAISING campaign has raised more than £10,000 in less than 24 hours for a nurse who was fined for organising a protest over NHS pay.

Angry members of the public rallied to support Karen Reissmann, a mental health nurse and rep for public-service union Unison, after she was hit with the £10,000 penalty at the protest in St Peter’s Square, Manchester, on Sunday.

The socially distanced and risk-assessed protest was called to oppose the government’s dismal offer of a 1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff.  

But Greater Manchester Police (GMP) shut the demo down, citing a ban on gatherings under Covid-19 regulations before slapping 61-year-old Ms Reissman with the eye-watering fine. 

Officers had also arrested a 65-year-old woman but she was later de-arrested and given a £200 fixed-penalty notice (FPN), GMP said. 

The force said that officers had sought to engage with and disperse protesters but that “unfortunately officers were met with a degree of non-compliance and it was therefore necessary to enforce issue FPNs.”

Ms Reissmann reportedly plans to challenge the fine. 

“The fine on Karen Reissmann is an attack on our right to protest — it is nothing to do with protecting our safety and everything to do with protecting a government that has presided over more than 120,000 deaths and which has failed the NHS,” the fundraising campaign said.  

“The fine will be challenged, and if that is successful any money raised but unused will be given to a mental health charity.”

Despite only being launched on Sunday, the fundraiser had surpassed the £10,000 target by today morning and had gathered more than £15,000 as the Morning Star went to press.

Ms Reismann said she was “overwhelmed by the amazing support” she had received. 

“It’s so heartwarming to know that so many people support the right of us to safely protest the insulting 1 per cent NHS pay offer that will do even more damage to our NHS,” she said.

“I continue to fight for that right to protest.”

In January, National Police Chiefs Council chairman Martin Hewitt said that £10,000 fines for organisers of gatherings of over 30 people would only be given in the “most serious cases, where those organising these gatherings are selfishly putting lives at risk.”

Kevin Blowe, campaigns officer for police monitoring group Netpol, said: “It looks like Greater Manchester Police is adopting a hard line, treating regulations as if they are clear-cut. 

“The reaction from people in the city, who have leapt to support a trade unionist facing a massive fine, suggests senior officers cannot be certain they have the consent of the public for such a tough stance.”

Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch said: “The sight of police threatening health workers with fines and arrests under ‘health protection regulations’ is extraordinary.”

Nurses are threatening to strike over the offer of a 1 per cent pay rise, with healthcare unions warning that the pitiful increase could push staff to quit their jobs. 

The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs released a statement today backing NHS workers in their fight for pay parity.

“Should heroic NHS staff be forced to take strike action in order to defeat the government’s disgraceful proposal and secure the fair pay and decent treatment they deserve, then they will have our full support and solidarity,” they said.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock did not appear in the Commons today to answer an urgent question from Labour over the pay offer, with a junior minister sent in his place.

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said: “The Secretary of State has stood at that despatch box repeatedly waxing lyrical, describing NHS staff as heroes, saying they are the very best of us, and now he is cutting nurses’ pay.”

Before the urgent question, Downing Street declined to rule out a one-off bonus for NHS workers as anger over the pay recommendation continues.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have been clear that we think the 1 per cent pay rise is what is affordable.”

To contribute to the fundraiser for Ms Reissmann, visit: bit.ly/ProtestFine.