'Thousands' of police to be deployed as Extinction Rebellion plans disruption

24 August 2020, 12:35

Protesters are planning to blockade parliament from Tuesday. Picture: PA

Thousands of police officers will be deployed in London over the bank holiday weekend to oversee an Extinction Rebellion march, according to a report.

Sixty police support units consisting of 25 officers in each will be in attendance of the march, according to the Mail on Sunday, which says it has obtained details of the response.

It added that eight armed response teams would also be deployed with 46 officers dedicated to firearms intervention tactics and 30 officers tasked with closing premises hosting unlicensed events.

Four property removal teams will be preventing the setup of sound systems and barricades.

It comes as the environmental group revealed the next stage of its "uprising" by launching such marches around the UK on the same weekend that Notting Hill Carnival was originally planned to go ahead.

This comes ahead of the group's plan to blockade parliament from next Tuesday as it re-sits after a summer hiatus.

"We’re not going to let them back in until they agree to start anew with justice, care and life at the heart of it," the group said in a statement on its website.

It added: "The Rebellion will not just be focused on London though. Welsh Rebels will join us in rebellion by causing disruption in Cardiff, with rebels in the North and Scotland formulating plans as we speak."

The group said the protesting over the bank holiday weekend would also help to "build pressure" in the leadup to the planned blockade, and encouraged "high impact disruption" in localised areas across the country.

LBC News has reached out to Extinction Rebellion and the Metropolitan Police for comment.