Scotland Yard has asked the Government to consider cancelling Europe’s largest arms fair in the future if the organisers continue to refuse to pay the £4.5 million policing costs.

The biennial Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi) which opens in Docklands today will, according to senior officers, drain resources at a time when the capital’s police are stretched to the limit.

The force will have to deploy about 1,000 officers each day at the four day event being held in the ExCel conference centre at a cost of £4.5 million to the taxpayer.

A spokesman for the Met said: "We are speaking to central Government to see if it’s appropriate for them [the conference organisers] to hold the exhibition next time if they are not prepared to pay for it [the policing costs]."

According to the police, a request to Spearhead, a subsidiary of, Reed Elsevier, the publishing group organising the exhibition, was submitted but has not been met.

Police clashed with protesters who turned out to demonstrate in East London when the event was last held in 2003. About 100 people were arrested.

Thousands of protesters are planning to march through East London today before converging upon the gates of the ExCel centre.

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade, the pressure group behind the protests, stressed that the action would be peaceful and has been organised in consultation with the police.

Mark Lewis, spokesman for the group, dismissed claims that protesters arrested in 2003 were troublemakers.

"To call some pushing and shoving outside of the ExCel Centre violence is a massive hypocrisy when you consider that the business of violence, that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, is taking place inside," he said.

Protest organisers are predicting a large turnout today, with dedicated activists joined by people from local communities who do not want the arms fair to be held in their area.

The local support follows a resolution passed by Newham Borough Council in June when councillors voted unanimously against the fair returning to their region.

Mr Lewis said: "London communities are more united than ever at present. We have had a lot of interest from local people and we expect a great number of them to join in." Among the disruption planned by the activists is a mass bike ride on Wednesday and picketing of the centre.

Mr Lewis said: "People’s enthusiasm for trying to stop this arms fair, with their bodies if necessary, has only been reinforced by people’s continued outrage at the presence of this fair in their borough."

A record number of exhibitors are displaying their defence and military aerospace technology this year in what is billed as the "world’s largest international tri-service defence exhibition. In total, about 1,200 from over 60 countries will be at ExCel this week.

The Ministry of Defence invites potential buyers from around the world to come to the exhibition that is considered a showcase for Britain’s arms industry.

When it was held two years ago some 20,000 people visited DSEi from 65 countries.

Paul Beaver, a spokesman for the DSEi, said: "The police asked us once, about two weeks ago, if we would contribute to the policing costs but they came to us too late this year as all our budgeting for the conference was done some time ago.

"The exhibition and the exhibitors pay for the security inside the event. The outer cordon is a matter for the police to organise because it is a matter of public order.

"There needs to be a a public policy debate about the costs of policing events like this."

A spokesman for the MoD said it was the police’s responsibility to safeguard public order outside the ExCel event.

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