Author Archives: eveline lubbers

As the end of March approaches, we have reached both the first anniversary of Britain’s coronavirus state of emergency – and at the same time the end of this blog. We have kept this diary for a year now, first daily, then weekly, and now monthly. The past year has seen the enforcement of theContinue reading “March 2021 Update & Final One”

POLICING In late February, the National Police Chiefs Council published the latest statistics (PDF) on coronavirus fixed penalty notices. This indicated that 68,9522 notices have been recorded as having been issued in England (63,201) and Wales (5,751) between Friday 27th March 2020 and Monday 14th February 2021. There was a sharp rise in the numberContinue reading “February 2021 Update”

POLICING The issuing of fixed penalty notices all over the country has ground relentlessly on over the last week. In Tyneside, police fined 12 members of a football team who told bar staff they were single household. Police broke up a student house party in Exeter on 24 October and in south-east London, the MetropolitanContinue reading “20 -27 October Update”

POLICING From Monday 28 September, police were granted extra powers, including self-isolation “spot checks” in high-risk areas based on “local intelligence” (neighbours reporting on each other), as new local lockdowns and more fines from £1000 to £10,000 come into force in England. For instance, you can now get a £10,000 fine for breaking self-isolation rules.Continue reading “24 – 30 September Update”

There was another avalanche of changes in the coronavirus regulations over the last week, in advance of predictions of the second wave of infections and the next lockdown looming. While we will point at good summaries here, our concern is – as ever – the enforcement by the police. There remains a complete lack ofContinue reading “16 – 23 September Update”

LEGAL The government’s new “Rule of Six” has dominated the COVID19 agenda over this week. Announced by the Prime Minister on Wednesday last week to come into force on Monday 14 September, the actual text of the new regulations was published only minutes before midnight on Sunday. This is even tighter than the introduction ofContinue reading “7 – 15 September Update”

POLICING Freedom News has produced a thorough summary of the latest regulations in a post entitled Activism and the law (5 Sep), stating: ‘One of the difficulties of writing anything useful about the law at the moment is that it’s changing so damned quickly. Coronavirus regulations have to be reviewed by the government every 28Continue reading “1 – 6 September Update”

POLICING As we predicted last week, the coronavirus regulations are now being used to threaten people organising demonstrations. New rules came into force in England on Friday ahead of the bank holiday weekend and on Sunday, Piers Corbyn was fined £10,000 for organising an anti-lockdown rally under the law restricting gatherings of more than 30 people. TheContinue reading “25 – 31 August Update”

POLICING Police in England are now – since Friday 21th August – able to fine organisers of illegal gatherings of more than 30 people up to £10,000. This includes raves, but it may also include protests. (If you are a protest organiser threatened with a fine, please contact Netpol). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland canContinue reading “17 – 24 August Update”

POLICING The continued focus of public order policing of the coronavirus pandemic in Britain over the last fortnight has been on ‘raves’ or illegal gatherings. Police forces are increasing patrols of potential hotspots and have carried out raids of unlicensed events in Birmingham, the Sussex coast, Manchester, Cheshire and Accrington. Police in Manchester have warnedContinue reading “6 – 16 August Update”