TWO police officers are accused of perverting the course of justice over an incident which happened during the English Defence League demonstration in Bolton town centre.

The charges relate to an incident involving one of the Unite Against Fascism counter-protesters, Alan Clough, from Radcliffe, who was allegedly attacked by police.

Now police officers Robert Cantrell and Alan Glover have been summonsed to appear at York Magistrates’ Court on September 11.

They have both been summonsed to face charges of perverting the course of justice.

Mr Clough, a UAF demonstrator, had been charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour during the protests, which happened in Victoria Square on March 20, 2010.

He strongly denied the accusation — but the case against him was dropped when video footage emerged of him apparently being attacked by police.

The footage, which was shot by Granada TV and obtained by Mr Clough’s defence team, appeared to show the 63-year-old being pushed to the ground and hit on the head with a baton by police officers.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided to drop the case against Mr Clough on the day it was due to start at Bolton Magistrates Court in October, 2010.

Campaign group Justice4bolton, which was set up after the demonstration, alleged that the police used heavy-handed tactics on the day and called for an inquiry.

Greater Manchester Police launched an internal inquiry after the footage emerged, which was later taken over by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Home addresses for Cantrell, aged 39, and Glover, aged 31, were not given to the court — both were listed as “care of Greater Manchester Police headquarters”.

Greater Manchester Police declined to comment, saying the matter was in the hands of the IPCC.

The IPCC also declined to comment.

Neither GMP nor the IPCC would confirm the officers’ ranks or where they are based, but it is thought they are not based in Bolton.

A CPS spokesman said: “We can confirm we passed a guidance file back to the IPCC to go ahead with the charges on those counts.”

More than 3,500 protesters from both the EDL and the UAF took part in the protests.

There were 73 arrests on the day, 54 of whom were UAF-affiliated.