Figure more than double that spent each year on trying to reduce violent crime in London

Protests by Extinction Rebellion have cost the Metropolitan police £37m so far this year but Britain’s most senior officer has said she is against a ban on the climate emergency group’s campaign of disruption.

Dame Cressida Dick said the fortnight-long autumn demonstrations, which ended last week, cost at least £21m, a figure expected to rise by several million. It comes on top of the £16m spent on policing the group’s protests in April.

Dick said the total so far was higher than the £15m spent every year on the Met’s violent crime taskforce, which tries to reduce the number of stabbings and other violent crime in London.

At a press briefing, Dick said the force was so stretched officers did not see their families for days. About 21,000 officers had been placed on 12-hour shifts, and one had told the commissioner they worked 45 hours over three days.

Extinction Rebellion has said it is carrying out a campaign of civil disobedience to force radical reforms to address the climate emergency, with actions including prolonged disruption at multiple sites across the capital.

Dick said: “We are certainly at a point where I would say to Extinction Rebellion, this is placing a horrendous strain on London and on the Met.

“We have to, whatever the cause, stop very serious disruption when it is unlawful, which it most patently is.”

A spokesman for the group, Rob Cooper, said: “Perhaps this government should look at how they spend money. According to a report by the European Commission in January our government spends £10.5bn a year subsidising fossil fuels.



“The prime minister recently reminded us that when Margaret Thatcher left office 29 years ago, she was aware of the dangers of global warming but the problem was filed in the ‘pending’ tray.”

Extinction Rebellion is considering fresh action in the run-up to Christmas, but Dick said she was against pre-emptively curtailing its campaigns.

“Am I going to go to government and say can we stop, please, or could you change your policy? Of course not, we are the police, we are impartial, we’ve got a job to do.”

The Met says it needs to balance the right to protest in a democracy against the disruption it may cause.

During XR’s autumn campaign, the Met made 1,828 arrests and 164 charges have been laid so far.

The commissioner said that of those convicted after the group’s protests in April, so far 384 had paid costs and got a conditional discharge. It left them with a criminal record, but some critics question if the penalties are enough of a deterrent, particularly for activists who may regard criminal convictions in the furtherance of their cause as a badge of honour.

Dick confirmed police and government officials were discussing changes to public order laws to deal with protests such as those of Extinction Rebellion, including ways to deter repeat offenders and disruption. Potential new offences under consideration include one of fixing things to the highway.

“We are not looking for extraordinary powers,” Dick said.

A judicial review of police actions in ordering activists out of Trafalgar Square and imposing conditions that critics say amounted to a protest ban, is expected to begin this week.

Play Video Police clear Extinction Rebellion protesters from Trafalgar Square overnight – video

The resources diverted to policing protests come as the Met tries to stop the homicide rate for this year surpassing last year’s toll of 135. Dick said 115 people had been killed so far in London this year, compared with 112 at the same point last year. Of those, 77 had been stabbed and nine shot, with 22 victims being teenagers.

Dick also said that since April 2017, 24 terrorist plots had been thwarted, 16 of which were Islamist and eight being attempts to kill to further an extreme rightwing ideology. The new figures reveal two more plots than previously thought.