The Rainbow Warrior - flagship of the Greenpeace protest fleet - will be visiting Medway later this month.

The 55-metre vessel, one of the most famous ships in the world because of her environmental campaigns, will arrive in London on October 20 as part of the eco-action group's Give Coal the Boot campaign.

She will then be visiting Medway and welcoming onboard the heads of groups such as Oxfam, the Women’s Institute and Tearfund, to show their opposition to plans for a new coal power station at Kingsnorth and others in the pipeline around the UK.

Joss Garman of Greenpeace said: “There’s a huge coalition building against planned coal plants, and they’ll be joining the Rainbow Warrior to help give coal the boot.

“Faith groups, development groups, politicians of all shades, scientists and thousands of ordinary people are standing up and saying no to new coal.”

Last month, six Greenpeace volunteers were acquitted of causing criminal damage by a jury at Maidtsone Crown Court.

The charges arose after the six attempted to shut down the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station last year by scaling the chimney and painting the Prime Minister’s name down the side.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and relied in court on the defence of lawful excus - claiming they shut the power station in order to defend property of a greater value from the global impact of climate change.