Police are bracing themselves for a series of major protests in Manchester this weekend to coincide with the Conservative Party conference.



Greater Manchester Police said it was expecting significant numbers to march through the city on Sunday — estimates put the numbers in the tens of thousands — in at least two planned protests as the conference gets underway. Some 12,000 delegates are expected over the course of the four-day event, which plays a major role in the local economy.

The Manchester Evening News reported that around 1,000 officers, including extra armed officers, will be in place on Sunday as part of a security operation costing some £2 million, one of the biggest in the city's history.



Manchester was the scene of heated anti-austerity demonstrations when the conference was last held in the city in 2015, when hundreds of protesters converged over three days, including many campaigners calling for improved NHS funding.



Conference organisers have reportedly created a second entrance so that delegates will not, as they did in 2015, have to form a long queue outside the secure event perimeter which has "airport-style" security measures. In 2015 some activists and journalists were jeered, spat on and, in one instance, pelted with eggs while making their way into the conference.