Protests in Rochdale and Heywood

National Front demonstrators surrounded by police outside Rochdale Town Hall

Police have made a small number of arrests after two simultaneous protests held by far-right groups in Heywood and Rochdale.

An operation was put in place by Greater Manchester Police, Rochdale Council and the community in the lead up to today's flash demonstrations.

At about 5.00pm on Wednesday, 16 May 2012, a group of around 10 members of the British National Party held a demonstration in Heywood town centre.

This was peaceful and passed off without incident.

However, around the same time a group of around 40 far-right protestors from the Infidels of Britain, the National Front and Combat Ex-Forces, arrived outside Rochdale town hall.

They attempted to force their way into a council function inside, but were prevented from doing so by GMP officers.

Three men were arrested at this time, two for a breach of the peace and another for a racially-aggravated public order offence.

The protestors then congregated outside the town hall before dispersing shortly after.

Supt Chris Hankinson said: "This evening's events show that far-right groups are now prepared to use different tactics in order to get their views across.

"On this occasion, they appear to have planned a seperate demonstration in Heywood, to draw attention away from a larger event in Rochdale.

"Thankfully, they came up against our determined and professional officers who prevented them getting into the town hall where they were cleafrly intent on causing as much disruption as possible.

"We took swift action to stop this and restored peace as quickly as possible.

"I want to thank the communities of Heywood and Rochdale for not engaging in today's activities and we will continue to work qwith them to ensure disruption from these types of events are kept to a minimum."

Jim Taylor, Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The police have done a fantastic job in making sure these small demonstrations in Heywood and Rochdale caused minimal disruption and passed off with only a small number of arrests.

"We have an excellent relationship with our partners in the police and times like this show how important this relationship is.”