GREATER Manchester Police’s Chief Constable has said that the force is under “real strain” in the wake of the arena suicide bombing and the loss of nearly one in four officers in recent years.

Ian Hopkins has cited official figures showing GMP had 8,148 officers in March 2010, but this had dropped by 23 per cent to 6,297 by March last year.

Mr Hopkins praised officers for their “outstanding” work policing the Parklife festival over the weekend along with a protest against Islamist terrorism in Manchester city centre.

Writing on Twitter, he said: "Outstanding from @gmpolice officers & staff this w/e policing protest & Parklife. Real strain on everyone not just this weekend ... see below."

Below he posted a page from the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary 2016 efficiency report for GMP, with the table showing the reduction in officers.

It shows GMP's total workforce fell by a fifth during the period, from 13,189 to 10,506, while the number of community support officers (PCSOs) reduced from 842 to 748 - a drop of 11 per cent.

The table shows these are set to fall even further over the next three years, with the total workforce expected to be 10,108 by March 2020 with 500 PCSOs.

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham also took to social media to talk about the strain the force is under, stating that it is ‘stretched to the limit’ in the middle of the ongoing investigation.

The investigation into the Manchester Arena bomb attack has been described as one of the biggest in GMP’s history.

Mr Burnham criticised the demonstration in the city over the weekend organised by former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson which then drew a counter-demonstration.

He said that “these EDL-types” need to have a look at themselves.

Mr Burnham added: “I care about out police being unnecessarily distracted when they are worn out and still working hard to investigate a major incident.”

The figures show GMP will lose more staff than the national average, with the total workforce forecast to drop by 24 per cent between 2010 and 2020, compared with 21 per cent across England and Wales.

About 400 officers were deployed to police Sunday's protest and officers made eight arrests for public order offences.

Chief Superintendent John O'Hare said many officers who had already worked long hours had to operate in "extremely challenging circumstances".

More than 1,000 officers have been involved in the investigation into the May 22 attack, with hundreds of witnesses interviewed and thousands of hours of CCTV being examined.

GMP said there are now more than 8,000 entries on its logging system and 700 media devices such as mobile phones have been seized.

A total of 29 houses have been searched and 22 people arrested, who have now been arrested without charge, during the inquiry.