A regional daily has commemorated a massacre on its patch with a ‘live blog’ informing readers of how the tragedy unfolded 200 years ago.

The Manchester Evening News has run the blog as part of its coverage of the bicentenary of the Peterloo Massacre, which took place on 16 August 1819.

As part of its coverage, the MEN has run the blog on its website updating readers with exactly what was happening in Manchester two centuries ago today.

The massacre claimed 18 lives following a cavalry charge at a mass protest involving tens of thousands of demonstrators who were demanding parliamentary reform.

Chris Osuh, the MEN’s Manchester Life editor, told HTFP: “Greater Manchester has an unrivalled history of fighting for social justice. From the mill workers who stood against slavery, the Pankhursts who fought for women’s suffrage, to the Co-operative and Labour movements, and more recently the Pan-African and gay liberation movements, the city has never been afraid to stick its neck out.

“All these movements owe a debt to Peterloo, that day 200 years ago when 60,000 ordinary people, largely from the city, towns and villages we now know as Greater Manchester, marched for representation and the vote, and were met with violence, then smear, cover-up and repression. The rights we take for granted today – as workers and citizens – owe a debt to the stand those people took and the lives that were lost.

“It’s tempting to look for parallels, but in 1819, the cost of living, workers’ pay, and Britain’s trading arrangements with the rest of the world were all on people’s minds, although the stakes were even higher back then.

“Those parallels, the advances that we’ve enjoyed since then, and the reality that those hard-won rights simply cannot be taken for granted, mean it’s never been more important for the city, and the country, to remember Peterloo.”