Olympian Etienne Stott says protests are being silenced

Olympic gold-winning canoeist Etienne Stott has spoken of his concern that the government is silencing environmental protests.

Mr Stott, an Extinction Rebellion protester from Nottingham, and four others, were cleared of tampering with an oil tanker on Wednesday.

The group glued themselves to parts of a Shell tanker as it left a petrol station in Paddington on 16 April.

The Home Office said it wanted to respond to "guerrilla tactics".

Under the Public Order Bill, police could be allowed to shut down protests before they cause serious disruption.

Mr Stott was in court facing one count of tampering with a motor vehicle.

Speaking after the case, he said: "We were there to basically disrupt the fossil fuel industry.

"They are wanting to expand their operations in a climate emergency.

"We were there to expose this insanity."

He said the protest had caused very little disruption.

"I suppose the disruption in this case was very, very focused," he said.

"That morning, the tanker was on a side street, there wasn't a great deal of public disruption.

"The fact is, the government is trying to ignore us, is trying to silence us through new laws.

"If the government aren't engaging with the issues, protests will happen.

"We need everyone to realise they are being sold short by our government and by the fossil fuel companies."

District Judge Zani cleared all five defendants at Westminster Magistrates' Court of tampering with a motor vehicle, saying they had not bonded themselves to the vehicle itself but its trailer.

Former Team GB athlete, Mr Stott 43, and his co-accused Amy Rugg-Easey, 32, Nichola Andersen, 50, Erika Curren, 65, and Shaun Davies, 32, had to be removed by police "de-bonding" experts following the demonstration.

The court was told the petrol station lost about £8,000 in sales when it closed during the protest.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The Home Secretary has been clear that we need to do more to protect the rights of the law-abiding majority to go about their business.

"The Public Order Bill will give the police the powers they need to prevent and respond to guerrilla tactics that cause misery to the hard-working public."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].