Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests have cost the taxpayer ￡50 million in policing since 2019, the Metropolitan Police have revealed, as the group warns of a fresh wave of action.

       The environmental group has announced it will begin two weeks of protests across London this weekend, which is likely to cause significant disruption in the capital including during the Bank Holiday weekend.

       XR organisers have said that they will target the City of London in order to highlight high finance's role in the climate change crisis.

       But Scotland Yard has warned that in order to police the protests, officers will have to be taken away from some of the most vulnerable communities where they are focused on tackling knife crime and other serious offences.

       The Met Police also revealed that more than 3,760 arrests have been made during the XR demonstrations with almost 2,000 people charged.

       Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: "It's clear to us from reading and listening to their public pronouncements that Extinction Rebellion's intention is to once again cause significant disruption to London and to London's communities through acts of civil disobedience.

       "Every police officer committed to a large demonstration in central London is a police officer extracted away from their local borough and community.

       "Each painstaking hour spent dealing with a protester who has committed perhaps criminal damage, glued or locked onto a road or business is time spent away from the people of London, in the parts of London that need us most, dealing with knife crime, domestic abuse and violence.

       He added: "We have ongoing concerns about London's police officers being taken away from their boroughs to police public order events especially over such a protracted period and over what is usually one of our busiest weekends of the year.

       “I want our police officers to be serving Londoners, fighting crime as well as bearing down on our number one priority which is violence. It is frustrating that activity by Extinction Rebellion could hinder those efforts particularly over the Bank Holiday weekend when we typically see a significant increase in demand into the Met across the whole of London.”

       Stephen Fry, the comedian, who is a supporter of XR said he approved of the “mucky” and “disruptive” tactics deployed in the demonstrations.

       In a video posted on Twitter he praised the group for attempting to "make politicians really recalibrate, realign, revolutionise politics".