Environmental campaigners are planning a mass blockade of Dover port next week.

They are warning of "disruptive" action with severe traffic delays blocking major arterial roads.

Hundreds of people from all over England are expected to pour into the area.

The protest is to demand that the authorities "drastically" deal with the climate change and other ecological problems.

A spokesman for the organisers, Extinction Rebellion Canterbury, said: "The action is expected to be disruptive in order to bring attention to the need for national, regional and local government to act to drastically reduce the causes of climate change.

"Extinction Rebellion will be causing severe traffic delays in Dover by blocking major arterial roads which link Dover to the continent."

The action is due to begin at 11am and last about four hours on Saturday, March 30.

The tactic is to interrupt traffic flow leaving Dover Eastern Docks at Jubilee Way and the A20 by protesters standing or sitting in the road.

They will not try to disrupt vehicles flow into the port.

This is to make their point that, if climate change goes on unchecked, Britain will no longer be able to import food from abroad due to, for example, crop failures.

The group says that as 40% of the UK’s food and medicine supply comes from Dover, this action will give the public an idea of the kind of crisis that Britain will face if climate change continues unchecked.

Protesters on the day will talk to members of the public about their concerns.

It says that this type of civil disobedience will escalate and continue until all of Extinction Rebellion’s demands are met.

Previous actions by this group in Kent have included the Extinction Rebellion Funeral March in Canterbury on Saturday, March 2.

The group, with the slogan "no food on a dead planet," says that several of the protesters at Dover will be students.

The XR Canterbury spokesman added: "They realise that education will be ultimately futile if the climate crisis is not addressed in time.

The action on March 30 will send a clear message: very soon we could have major food and medicine shortages because of climate breakdown.

"Does the British public want to send its children into a world of destruction and death as the climate breaks down, food supplies collapse, and society slides into chaos?"

The group says that this will be a peaceful protest and police have been told of it.

It says officers are expected to make contingency plans for emergency vehicles to get through Dover during the action.

A police spokesman said: "Kent Police are aware of a planned protest at the Port of Dover on March 30.

"Officers will be in attendance to facilitate a peaceful protest, to prevent and detect crime and disorder and to ensure the safety of the public, the protesters and the police."

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