Former Los Angeles Police Department detective Mr. Mark Fuhrman is vacationing in Bermuda.

Several sources, including Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness, confirmed this to The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Mr. Fuhrman -- who many believe played a key role in a Los Angeles jury's decision last week to acquit former American football star Mr. O.J. Simpson of murdering his ex-wife Mrs. Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Mr. Ronald Goldman -- is expected to remain on the Island for the next four to five days.

He reportedly arrived on a flight from Boston during the weekend under his real name and under no disguise.

But yesterday his location was shrouded in secrecy.

One source said Mr. Fuhrman was staying at a private home with a family, while another said he was registered under a false name at the Elbow Beach hotel on the South Shore in Paget.

And the reaction to the visit of the key prosecution witness -- who made racist remarks about blacks and was accused of tampering with evidence in the Simpson double-murder case -- was just as mixed.

One angry caller told The Royal Gazette that she and a group of other protesters were meeting last night to plan "some form of protest''.

"A group of us are very concerned that this man is a racist and a terrorist in that he espouses that people should be lined up against a wall and shot,'' she said.

"We, people who have been targets of his racism, feel that this constitutes terrorist behaviour.'' The woman stressed that she viewed Government's sanctioning of Mr. Fuhrman visit as "a slap in the face''.

"He has perjured himself and as far as we are concerned he is a criminal,'' she said. "People can look forward to some form of protest. Having Mark Fuhrman in Bermuda is no less than having a member of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) here in Bermuda or if a member of Hitler's Third Reich were here in Bermuda.'' But another caller, who claimed to be a friend to a close friend of Mr.

Simpson's lawyer Mr. Johnnie Cochran, said he knew of Mr. Fuhrman's plan to visit before it became public and had no problem with it.

"It doesn't bother me at all,'' he said. "Naturally he's got to go somewhere (after the ordeal of the Simpson trial). Bermuda is ideal. Maybe after he sees Bermuda's blacks, he may change his mind about blacks.'' When contacted yesterday, Mr. Edness pointed out that there was no law preventing Mr. Fuhrman from visiting the Island.

However, he said: "The Government and all right-thinking people in this country deplore racist remarks, attitudes.

"The kind of remarks Mr. Fuhrman made, we deplore,'' he stressed. "We won't tolerate it here.'' While noting that there were parallels between Mr. Fuhrman's racist remarks and those of Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan -- who was banned from Bermuda between 1985 and September, 1991 for remarks about Jews -- Mr.

Edness said he believed Minister Farrakhan's ban was a mistake.

"Mr. Farrakhan should have been permitted to come here and have a private visit,'' he said. "But Mr. Farrakhan was a public speaker. At least part of his intent was to come here and speak.

"This man (Mr. Fuhrman) has come here as a private visit. He's not here to make speeches. And providing that he conforms to our laws, our procedures, and practises that's fine.

"Mr. Farrakhan too is free to come here for a vacation.'' Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott agreed with Mr. Edness.

And he stressed that despite individuals' opinions, it was dangerous to allow this to affect public policy.

"Officially Bermuda should not or cannot have any reservations about Mr.

Fuhrman being here,'' Mr. Scott said. "We as individuals can have our own opinion. But it should not find itself in public policy.

"If individuals wish to organise themselves that is their right. But from a political point of view I can't see any reason why we should ban him (Mr.

Fuhrman) from being here.'' Mr. Scott said just as the white community in the US must accept that the legal process was carried out in the Simpson verdict, the community must allow the system to deal with Mr. Fuhrman.

But Shadow Human Affairs Minister Dr. Ewart Brown blasted Mr. Edness for comparing the Farrakhan matter with that of Mr. Fuhrman.

"I do think it was grossly incorrect for the Minister of Immigration to make the case that Mark Fuhrman is the equivalent of Minister Farrakhan,'' Dr.

Brown said. "That's a terrible mistake. One should not mention Mark Fuhrman and Minister Farrakhan in the same breath. Mark Fuhrman is an unsophisticated racist, Minister Farrakhan is not a racist.''