Sunday saw hundreds of protesters clash with police in an assault on Kingsnorth Power Station.

The climate camp protesters were calling for a halt to a new power station on the Hoo Peninsula - and were not afraid to break the law to achieve it.

But an air of calm descended on the River Medway as a small flotilla of boats made its own demonstration.

Around 13 boats blockaded the River Medway at Gillingham Strand in protest at the Government's proposed increase in red diesel tax, as part of a nationwide protest by boat owners scared that soaring prices of red diesel, sold at a lower duty rate for agricultural and marine use, will kill their hobby.

Protesters say that while the European Union is recommending a 22p per litre price increase in the cost of red diesel, bringing it up to about 92p, the British government is insisting on charging £1.20 a litre, from November 1.

Gerry Bloomfield, Medway organiser of the country-wide Fuel Protest Action group, said the demonstration had been organised with full consultation with the police and Medway ports authority, and had been timed to ensure there would be no disruption to commercial activities on the waterway.

He said: "I think it will signal the end of the British boating industry."