London police reveal cost of climate protests

Activist group Extinction Rebellion, also known as XR, said 30 years of inaction on the issue of climate change means protesters had no choice but to take to the streets, after the cost of policing their recent London demonstrations was revealed.

London's Metropolitan Police said the bill, which is currently 21 million pounds ($27 million) plus 16 million pounds spent on policing the group's protests in April, amounts to more than twice the annual budget of its violent crime task force and has prevented other investigations.

According to the force's commissioner, Cressida Dick, the costs show the burden placed on the Met during the two weeks of disruption. 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.

At a media 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.

Police dealt with 495 "locked-on" incidents in which officers had to remove obstacles ranging from "very large structures" to people glued onto buildings. During XR's autumn campaign, the Met made 1,828 arrests and 164 charges have been laid so far.

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."

The stated intention of the activist group was to carry 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.

In a statement responding to the disclosure of costs to police, XR said: "If you want to target the messengers then so be it, but that doesn't change the message that needs to be heard."

Former senior police officer Rob Cooper, who is now a spokesman for XR, said: "Perhaps this government should look at how they spend money. According to a report by the European Commission in January our government spends 10.5 billion pounds ($13.5 billion) a year subsidizing 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. Since then the problem has been filed in the 'too difficult to handle' tray.

"We all have jobs that we feel are too difficult to do. Perhaps now doing the job has become easier than continuing to delay. That is why we are asking the prime minister to display bravery, honesty and positive leadership in this decisive moment for humanity."

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

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