PARKING protester Mike Hamblett vowed to continue his campaigning after being cleared of assaulting police.

Hamblett, of Harpes Road, North Oxford, was arrested in September following a confrontation between him and contractors trying to paint yellow lines in his street for a county council-imposed controlled parking zone.

He was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and obstructing a council official in his duty.

At Oxford Magistrates' Court today, Hamblett pleaded guilty to obstructing council officers, but denied assaulting police and was found not guilty of the charge.

PC Roger Calderwood told magistrates Hamblett elbowed him in the face, giving him a "fat lip".

Hamblett said afterwards: "If the police thought they were going to intimidate me they had the wrong guy.

"They made a mistake but this has fired me up to make sure the county council spend their money wisely."

The court heard Hamblett took a plank of wood used to measure out parking spaces in the street and threw it back into the council vehicle. Contractors then called the police and three constables arrived.

As Hamblett sat on a wall, the court heard, two officers grabbed his arms, placed them behind his back and marched him towards a waiting police van.

He was handcuffed and kneed in the leg three times by one of the officers before he was placed inside the van.

David Wyatt, who runs a nearby business, came outside as Hamblett was arrested.

He told the court he did not see Hamblett elbow an officer in the face.

He said: "The police were being aggressive to him.

"Then they started kneeing him in the back of the leg, which I thought was totally unnecessary. The grey-haired policeman kneed him in the back of the leg, pulling his arms right up his back until he was screaming that it was really hurting.

"The red-headed policeman was shouting at me to 'back off' as if he was dealing with a football crowd."

Tim Spring, of Harpes Road, said Hamblett's treatment was "inordinately harsh".

"I said to Mike, 'don't worry, if this goes to court, I will be a witness'," Mr Spring said. "An officer pushed me firmly back against a parked car and I thought he was going to arrest me for obstruction - I was really shocked."

Hamblett was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs.