ONE of the main speakers at the Freedom Rally held in Stroud on Saturday morning has been charged by with a coronavirus offence.

Political activist Debbie Hicks was arrested at the event, which took place in Stratford Park.

Ms Hicks, 45, of Stratford Road in Stroud, has been charged with failing to comply with a direction to leave an event or gathering in order to control coronavirus.

She is due to appear at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on February 22.

Between 80 and 100 people attended the rally in Stratford Park, which saw three speakers outline why they believed a nationwide lockdown was wrong.

Debbie Hicks was the first speaker at the event.

She welcomed the crowd at around 12.30pm and said the rally was about ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘standing up against tyranny’.

It was, she said, disgraceful that Remembrance Sunday events could not go ahead as normal and a minutes silence was held to remember the fallen.

Anti-lockdown campaigner Piers Corbyn, who was due to speak, was not present.

Ms Hicks told the audience that Mr Corbyn had been arrested in London and was due in court.

Around an hour later Ms Hicks was arrested and led away by a group of police officers, and was later charged.

It is understood that a fine of £10,000 has been issued to the organisers of the event.

The police say that their officers only report breaches of the coronavirus legislation, and then fines are issued separately by the ACRO Criminal Records Office.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Constabulary said: "In terms of how fines are issued, a person is reported by our officers in relation to breaches of the legislation and a fixed penalty notice is then issued to the person by ACRO Criminal Records Office, which is a national police unit."