Pictured above: police arrest anti lockdown protester in Parliament Square<\/p>\n
Police today got tough on Covid lawbreakers, with 28 protesters arrested for flouting restrictions, four men fined for travelling in the same car on their way to McDonalds and officers even stopping motorists to ask ‘why are you here?’<\/p>\n
The Met Police detained 21 protesters at an anti-lockdown rally in Parliament Square this afternoon, while a further seven people were hauled away from a demonstration outside Julian Assange’s bail hearing and now face fines of up to \u00a36,400.<\/p>\n
In Northampton, a group of friends were pulled over at 5am and slapped with a \u00a3800 penalty notice for being in the same car despite being from different households – breaching lockdown rules that came into force at midnight.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Thames Valley Police has apologised for the behaviour of an officer who they said was ‘a bit keen’ in handing out leaflets asking drivers to explain why they were out and about as part of a crackdown on travel during lockdown in wealthy Maidenhead.<\/p>\n
The Met Police rolled out some of the toughest anti-Covid measures today, announcing that anyone caught not wearing a face mask in a shop or on public transport would be fined\u00a0\u00a3200.\u00a0However, the penalties will not be given on the spot and people will be allowed a short time frame with which to produce a doctor’s letter.<\/p>\n
The clampdown on people leaving home without ‘good reason’ came as Boris Johnson quietly extended his third national lockdown until March 31 as his new COVID law was published and he ducked Tory demands to guarantee ‘malicious’ rules are eased after his first review on February 15.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister has told the Commons ahead of a vote on the measure this evening that he has ‘no choice’ but to clamp down on those flouting the rules to curb the spread of the mutant Covid strain sweeping the country.<\/p>\n
He said: ‘We have no choice but to return to a national lockdown in England with similar measures being adopted by the devolved administrations, so we can control this new variant until we can take the most likely victims out of its path with vaccines’.<\/p>\n
Tory MPs are\u00a0alarmed that the regulations have extended the expiry date of the tiers system from February 22 to March 31 – despite the PM claiming that the system can start to be eased from mid-February if vaccine rollout goes well.<\/p>\n
As police pledged to get tough to stop the spread of Covid, it also emerged today:<\/p>\n
Motorists who caught making repeated unnecessary journeys during the latest lockdown will have their number plates recorded by police ANPR cameras and then face being fined by officers who later turn up at their homes.<\/p>\n
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