A blockade of traffic coming out of Dover Eastern Docks has been postponed.

Environment protesters planned a sit-down protest for four hours this Saturday, the day after the original Brexit date.

But since their announcement the date of Britain leaving the European Union was put off.

Now they will not go ahead with their action to avoid coinciding with Brexit protests.

A spokesman for the organisers, Extinction Rebellion Canterbury, said today: "Organisers made the considered decision with input from national and international Extinction Rebellion groups.

"The main reason for postponement is to avoid coincidence with pro/anti Brexit protests and the potential for the Extinction Rebellion message to be misinterpreted or overlooked.

"Extinction Rebellion has updated the hundreds of volunteers for the action from around the country about postponing the Dover action."

The blockade may now instead take place in the autumn.

Britain was meant to leave the European Union this Friday but Premier Theresa May agreed a delay with the EU of April 12, if the British Parliament does not pass her deal.

The secondary date is May 22 if the deal is voted through.

ERC's protest plans for Dover are not connected to Brexit and were announced several hours before the new leaving dates were agreed, last Thursday.

They are to do with pressing the government to deal with climate change and other ecological problems.

The idea was to use hundreds of activists in "disruptive action" with severe traffic delays.

The tactic, from 11am, was is to interrupt traffic flow leaving Dover Eastern Docks at Jubilee Way and the A20 by protesters standing or sitting in the road.

Vehicles going into the port would not be stopped.

This was 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.

But Extinction Rebellion will now turn to and International Rebellion Week, starting on April 15, when protestors will converge in London.

No specific Brexit demonstrations are yet known to be planned in Dover this week.

But millions last Saturday marched in London calling for a new referendum on leaving or staying with the EU.

A major pro-Brexit march and rally is meanwhile planned in the capital on Friday, March 29.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Extinction Rebellion said: "Extinction Rebellion groups are considering a date to coincide with the harvest in September to better explain the relationship between unsustainable food production, climate change and environmental destabilisation.

"The demonstration No Food On A Dead Planet is designed to raise awareness that the reliance on foods that are produced and distributed using fossil fuels are a significant contribution to the climate change problem."