A year of policing Just Stop Oil disruptors costs the Met nearly £20million.

The Met police has spent nearly £20million in just over a year policing disruptors from the Just Stop Oil campaign. Over the last five weeks, officers have acted extremely swiftly removing the disruptors as they began the slow marching and a total of 657 arrests were made. The disruptors also faced 338 charges as a result of dozens of attempts to bring the capital to a standstill, which the Met believes is the highest number of arrests made in response to mass unlawful disruption.

A further 308 activists remain on bail accused of offences including interfering with national infrastructure, ahead of further charging decisions.

Some individuals were arrested multiple times and face multiple charges.

The five-week operation cost at least £3.5m and led to 10,500 officer shifts being taken away from communities.

10,500 officers that are vital for our communities, have been removed from their normal duties to police these slow marches. The question here is-to remove all these officers from our BCU’s, just what have these disruptors so far achieved, except public anger and loathing?

The majority of the public, would agree with the cause, however, what they clearly do not agree with, is the daily disruption they are faced with or the disfiguring of paintings or monuments.

The total cost of policing Just Stop Oil protests since October 2022 is now £19.9 million. 

Commander Kyle Gordon, who oversaw the operation, said: “Community policing is at the forefront of the Met’s priorities and it is tough to see resources being taken away from our boroughs by Just Stop Oil.

“These officers should be responding to local communities and dealing with local issues instead of being taken away to police Just Stop Oil protests. Their time could be far better spent tackling issues in our communities and keeping them safe.

“We understand that in a democratic society there is a strong presumption in favour of the right to protest, but we also have to consider the rights of those who are impacted by JSO’s actions. While there is a right to protest and have your voice heard, there is no right to cause sustained serious disruption. 

“It is Londoners who ultimately face the brunt and bill for this action and we understand the frustration of Londoners who are caught up in the disruption, which as we know from previous campaigns impacts on everything from a school run or commute to work through to issues such as attending hospital appointments.

“Our response has successfully minimised the disruption for the majority of Londoners going about their lives, but I urge anyone who was impacted to contact us.

“This is a busy time for Met officers and I also want thank them for their commitment to minimising JSOs disruption by effectively using the new legislation.”

“Our aim in response to Just Stop Oil’s activity was to keep London moving and reduce serious disruption.

“We used new legislation (section seven of the Public Order Act 2023) to arrest activists and remove them from roads.

“On one occasion we made 79 arrests within 20 minutes to clear Whitehall.”

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