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The bill for policing Extinction Rebellion's latest climate protests in London was more than the cost of putting the Met’s 300-strong Violent Crime Taskforce on the streets for a year, Cressida Dick revealed today.

The Met Commissioner said the price of controlling the so-called “autumn uprising” currently stood at £21 million and was continuing to rise.

She said that compared with the £15 million-a-year budget for running the Met’s Violent Crime Taskforce, which is leading the force’s fight against knife and gun crime.

Ms Dick said the scale of the spending — which includes £6 million to pay for officers drafted in from other parts of the country — showed the “horrendous” burden the protests had placed on the Met and that the force had not been as effective in other areas during the disruption because of the diversion of Met resources.

The commissioner added that the final bill would be even higher as the figure did not include costs such as hotel bills for officers brought in and other expenses.

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She also disclosed that the Met had recovered 80 tons of “abandoned property” left by the protesters and that this environmental impact did not include the rubbish collected by Westminster and Lambeth councils.

Police dealt with 495 “locked-on” incidents in which officers had to remove obstacles ranging from “very large structures” to people glued onto buildings. “This places a horrendous strain on the Met,” Ms Dick added, saying that other police tasks like preventative work had been affected by the need to divert officers.

Extinction Rebellion demonstrate at the Treasury Building 12 show all Extinction Rebellion demonstrate at the Treasury Building 1/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 2/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 3/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 4/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 5/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Sky News 6/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Sky News 7/12 Police officers outside the Treasury building in Westminster, where Extinction Rebellion campaigners have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood from a fire engine PA 8/12 Police stands in front of the Treasury building during an Extinction Rebellion protest in Londo Reuters 9/12 Police officers outside the Treasury building in Westminster, where Extinction Rebellion campaigners have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood from a fire engine PA 10/12 Extinction Rebellion climate activists stand on a fire engine outside the Treasury building in London AP 11/12 A woman covered in fake blood outside the Treasury building in Westminster, where Extinction Rebellion have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood from a fire engine PA 12/12 A man sprays a graffiti during an Extinction Rebellion protest outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 1/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 2/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 3/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 4/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Reuters 5/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Sky News 6/12 Extinction Rebellion protestors demonstrate outside the Treasury building in London Sky News 7/12 Police officers outside the Treasury building in Westminster, where Extinction Rebellion campaigners have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood from a fire engine PA 8/12 Police stands in front of the Treasury building during an Extinction Rebellion protest in Londo Reuters 9/12 Police officers outside the Treasury building in Westminster, where Extinction Rebellion campaigners have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood from a fire engine PA 10/12 Extinction Rebellion climate activists stand on a fire engine outside the Treasury building in London AP 11/12 A woman covered in fake blood outside the Treasury building in Westminster, where Extinction Rebellion have sprayed 1,800 litres of fake blood from a fire engine PA 12/12 A man sprays a graffiti during an Extinction Rebellion protest outside the Treasury building in London Reuters

Her comments came as she disclosed that a total of 1,838 people were arrested during the two-week protest. Of these, 164 have so far been charged.

The number of terrorist plots foiled since April 2017 has risen to 24, Ms Dick also revealed today. She said that 16 were Islamist plots and the rest involved far-Right suspects. The previously publicised total was 22 plots. One of those foiled since was an alleged Islamist-inspired attempt to blow up St Paul’s Cathedral.