THE police have been praised for ensuring it was ‘business as usual’ as protests were held in Bolton town centre on Saturday.

There was a large presence of officers in and around Victoria Square to manage an protest from the Stop the Mosque group as well as a counter protest.

And after the events passed without any major incidents, local businesses and council chiefs have thanked the force for their efforts which meant that people were unaffected by the gatherings on the square.

Chris Taylor owns the Tiffany’s in the Square cafe, which is based in Victoria Square, next to where the protests took place.

He said: “It was very well organised by the police, they did a very good job and did everything they said they would.

“Crucially for us, it didn’t seem to put too many people off coming into the town centre on Saturday and our takings were about right really — it was business as usual.

Bolton Council bosses liaised closely with Greater Manchester Police in the run up to Saturday’s events to ensure that it was managed properly.

A spokesman for the authority said: “We worked closely with the police to facilitate a peaceful protest by both sides and ensure that the town centre was cleaned up swiftly afterwards.

“We’d like to thank the police for their excellent work, as well as residents and businesses for coming into the town centre, which was open for business as usual.” Chief Inspector Clark Bowers, who was incident commander on the day, said: ““It is very nice to get that kind of feedback from the community groups and from partners.

“We wanted to facilitate and suppport the protest and the counter protest but the main ethos was to ensure that there was no real effect on the town centre and on the community and I believe we achieved that.

“It is really good to hear that it was business as usual.”