The Manchester Evening News scored an online success last Saturday as 17,400 people followed its live news story as a protest organised by the anti-Islamic political group the English Defence League (EDL) was met by the Unite Against Facism (UAF) group.

Journalists and photographers used online reporting tools such as mobiles, video and Twitter to keep the MEN site updated on injuries, arrests and other developments over eight hours, the title reported.

Reporter Dan Thompson provided information throughout the protest from the Greater Manchester Police control room in Sedgley Park, while reporters Mike Keegan, Deborah Linton and Pete Bainbridge in Piccadilly Gardens used their mobile phones to provide pictures and video, and report on Twitter.

The team pulled the coverage together using liveblogging application CoveritLive.

Using the commenting facility on the liveblog and MEN website, readers were able to ask which areas were safe to visit, and find out how transport and shops were being affected.

According to the MEN, one of the live coverage’s followers, the wife of one of the police officers on duty at the protest – said the live updates put her mind at ease about her husband’s welfare.

The MEN deployed similar techniques in its coverage of police raids in the city in August.