More than 400 people packed Government's first public meeting on the new Green Paper on long-term residents last night.

The interest in the issue was so strong that people had to stand or sit in the floor in the Harbour Room at Number One Shed on Front Street to hear Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox and a panel of guests discuss the plans.

Ms Cox stressed that Government supported the strict moratorium on Bermudian status for long-term residents until the Country decides the question of Independence.

She said the Green Paper addressed a number of people but "the rights of Bermudians are the first and paramount consideration''.

"There cannot be a compromise on some form of security of tenure for long-term residents, the question is `where do you draw the line in the sand'?'' Government recognised that some foreigners came to Bermuda for a long time and had made it their home, but those who came after August, 1989 -- when the United Bermuda Party introduced a moratorium on status -- knew they had no prospect of citizenship, and others only had a chance in the "lottery'' of applying for status.

The PLP recognised long-term residents had concerns about their security in the job market and fears for the future of their children, but the permanent residents certificate would address that.

"It is important to get the balance between protecting Bermudians' livelihoods and being fair to those non-Bermudians who worked a long time in Bermuda and hoped for Bermudian status.

"Politically, it would be very easy and popular to say we are giving nothing away, but we've taken a bold step in setting out a number of options, including when there is a shortage of housing of offering the option of housing.'' She appealed for no unnecessary "rancour and bitterness'' in the debate and added: "My greatest fear is that it becomes a xenophobic, race, nationality fight without talking about the issues.'' Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon, who joined the Minister on the panel, said the United Bermuda Party supported status for residents who had lived on the Island for 20 years.

"No civilised country permanently prohibits people who have contributed to the growth of the country being refused citizenship forever,'' she said.

Residents' rights debated She said Bermuda needed the "best of the best'' to carry out necessary jobs and added that the take-up rate of people eligible to apply for status was never more than 50 percent.

Colin Simmons of the Bermuda Industrial Union said: "We appreciate our guest workers, but we would like Government to understand the principle that we are first and foremost.

"We feel the rights of Bermudian workers must come first because we are the ones who have to support our families and without the right to support our families we have nowhere to go.'' He said gang violence, which the Island never had before, reflected young people's dissatisfaction with the social structure where they felt left behind.

He said foreign workers had come to Bermuda and earned a lot of money which they could reinvest back home. That was their right, "but if you expect more, try another country''.

UBP MP Trevor Moniz, who supports status for people here more than 20 years, said: "I don't buy the argument that if you grant status Bermuda's streets will be full, you can't drive down Front Street and most people can't buy a house. It's all untrue.

"All these people are in Bermuda today. They don't threaten jobs, they have jobs. They are not a threat to jobs or housing or traffic on the Island.

"They all live in houses, none of them live on Horseshoe Beach. All we are arguing about is the vote.'' Panel member and PLP activist Rolfe Commissiong said Bermudians may appear not to be magnanimous, but would be more magnanimous when the Island got Independence and could properly address the issue.

"The grievance of black Bermudians far exceeds that of long-term residents.

They feel like second class citizens in their own Country and that is in part informed by the issuing of work permits, particularly to white foreigners over the years.'' Audience member Peggy Burns said: "Long-term residents were brought in to perform a service and were under contract to train Bermudians. What has led to them having to stay so long in the Island is worthy of an explanation.'' Dr. Eva Hodgson said foreign workers had given a benefit to the Island but they had also benefitted themselves -- "not the guys on the wall''.

"I sometimes wish they were not here so we could know what our standard of living would really be,'' she said.

Robert Pires of the Coalition for the Rights of Long-Term Residents said he had the right to vote in Britain after three years there.

He said: "Without the vote, long-term residents have no rights. Without ownership of property, they have no economic security.

"The great majority of these people are working class and middle class and are unlikely to be able to buy property in the top 20 percent.'' One audience member said it was a myth that "the best of the best'' were brought in. A Canadian in a top post at CedarBridge Academy had been a flop yet a Bermudian "turned around'' the school within a year.

Another member said Bermuda was too small to give foreigners status and he blamed them for the loss of the Island's spirituality.

He said foreigners are "more than welcome to come back but let me clean out my house because it's very dirty''.

Tony Cheesler, 36, from Barbados, has lived on the Island for 30 years without status and calls it his home.

He said: "I am caught in the middle. I consider myself Bermudian but I have nothing to show for it.

"I love Bermuda and consider it my home. You have got to think about people like myself. You can say go home, but I consider this my home.''