Just Stop Oil: Met Police says protests have cost it £20m

The force says the time it has spent on JSO equates to roughly 300 officers taken off frontline policing each day

The Met Police has asked Just Stop Oil (JSO) to "reach out and speak to us" after revealing policing the campaign group's protests has cost almost £20m.

The force said the time it had spent on the group equated to roughly 300 officers being taken off frontline policing each day.

It added JSO had "refused to engage" with police when planning protests.

JSO said it would continue its actions until "steps are taken to prevent the extraction of new oil and gas".

Hundreds of protests have been held since the group's first demonstration in 2022.

As well as marching on roads, JSO activists have disrupted events including The Open golf, Wimbledon, the Ashes, the London Pride March and the Chelsea Flower Show.

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Cdr Kyle Gordon, the senior officer responsible for planning the Met's response to the latest round of JSO's protests, said: "£20m from the public purse is a lot of money. I would much, much prefer to be using that within communities.

"These officers should be responding to local communities and dealing with local issues instead of being taken away to police Just Stop Oil protests."

He added: "When [JSO] talk about slow marches, it is in everything other than name an attempt to block the road and cause maximum disruption to people right across London.

"Our desire is that Just Stop Oil come forward and speak with us, so we can actually work with them.

"We absolutely understand and support the fundamental right to protest within a democratic society, but what we've got to do is balance that right with the rights of everybody else who is using this city."

A spokesperson for JSO said the group had written to Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, about new oil and gas licensing in October but had had no response.

"The police must know that unless steps are taken to prevent the extraction of new oil and gas, they will be on the frontlines of dealing with social breakdown and mass civil unrest," the spokesperson added.

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