Twenty protesters to be hit with £10,000 fines for trying to bring London to a halt
TWENTY protest leaders are to be hit with individual £10,000 fines for breaching Covid rules and trying to bring London to its knees yesterday.
The tabard-wearing leaders of a string of protests across the capital were quizzed by cops under new powers to stop the spread of the virus.
They are being reported for investigatigation and will receive a Fixed Penalty Notice with a £10,000 fine.
It was part of a get-tough policy unleashed by cops to prevent mass demos during the Covid-19 epidemic.
Most of the fines will be issued to Extinction Rebellion organisers who tried to bring a pink boat - dubbed 'The Lightship Greta' - into Central London.
The procession was intercepted by cops on the A3 in South London.
More big fines will be issued to organisers
A similar boat blockaded Oxford Circus for five days in April last year bringing chaos to the West End.
More big fines will be issued to organisers of other protests held yesterday.
They include “Resist the Government”, “Move One Million”, “The Ivory Coast Protest” and the “Citizens’ Assembly Extinction Rebellion.”
Piers Corbyn, older brother of former Labour leader Jeremy, received a £10k fine last week for organising a protest against lockdown restrictions.
The climate change denier led a protest at Trafalgar Square on Saturday, was held for up to 10 hours for questioning and served with the fine the next day.
Under new changes to coronavirus regulations, anyone attending a gathering of more than 30 people may be committing a criminal offence, with organisers liable to the hard-hitting fines.
Meanwhile, it emerged how more than 100 Met Police public order officers were called in to assist local Herts cops dealing with protesters at the newsprinters site in Broxbourne, where The Sun on Sunday is published.
Met Commander Kyle Gordon, in charge of the policing operation dealing with the weekend’s protests, said: “Over the past week, the Met has managed various protests across central London which have caused serious disruption to local communities.
“Throughout this period we have become increasingly concerned the organisers of these events have not always taken all reasonable measures to limit the risk of transmission of Coronavirus, thereby posing a risk, not only to those involved, but the wider public and communities of London.
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“We remain in the middle of a pandemic and we all need to play our part in keeping each other and our communities safe.
“The Met’s approach to policing the Coronavirus legislation has always been in line with the national policing approach, which is to engage, explain, encourage and only as a last resort enforce.
“Today as a result of events on the ground a number of individuals have been reported for consideration of a Fixed Penalty Notice for £10,000.
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