Cabinet Minister Zane DeSilva has condemned the racism he claimed was exhibited by angry protesters who jeered him and thumped his car after he tabled the Municipalities Reform Act.

Mr. DeSilva claimed the situation could have turned into a "bloodbath" on Friday morning, had his wife Joanne not been able to restrain his son Zane Jr., from getting out of their car.

Meanwhile, Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling added his voice to the chorus of concern, saying a few people "got carried away in the heat of the moment" during the rally, organised by the Corporation of Hamilton. He has since called Mr. DeSilva to apologise.

However, Senator Michael Dunkley of the United Bermuda Party cast doubt over whether the "ugly moment" really was racist in nature, and suggested Mr. DeSilva was trying to be divisive in characterising it as such.

The Act abolished the historic bias in favour of business votes in the municipalities of Hamilton and St. George.

Mr. DeSilva, who is Government's only white MP and Minister without Portfolio, told the House of Assembly it would therefore "remove the last vestige of a system designed to preserve an unnatural imbalance in favour of the few".

Referring late on Friday night to events at the protest rally, Mr. DeSilva said: "I think it comes to bills like this you will have racial undercurrents because there are racial undercurrents."

He also referred back to a protest last June on the Cabinet grounds over Premier Ewart Brown's decision to grant four former Guantánamo Bay refugees asylum on the Island.

Mr. DeSilva has previously complained he was called a "n****r lover" by protesters on that occasion.

He told the House on Friday: "I can assure you that if we continue to have repeats of marches or gatherings or activities like we did last year on the Cabinet grounds and this afternoon on these grounds, how are we ever going to heal our racial differences? How are we going to do it?"

He issued a follow-up statement on Saturday evening, saying: "On Friday, July 23, my family and I experienced yet another episode of the racism that this white segment of the Bermudian population continues to deny exists."

He asked: "Do these individuals believe these types of actions will bring our people together? I have seen many marches and protests in my life and I don't recall a Minister of any government being treated the way my family and Premier, Dr. the Hon. Ewart Brown and his family have."

He continued: "What do you think the black people of this country think when they witness such hatred and nastiness? They chanted 'coward' at me — why? Because I didn't address them?

"Anyone who witnessed the abuse that our Premier and his wife, along with my wife and I, had to endure last year on the Cabinet grounds, would certainly agree that no Government Minister let alone a human being should be subjected to such abuse.

"In no way was I going to be subjected to that experience again. Had my wife not been able to restrain my son we could have had an all out bloodbath yesterday."

He added: "I'm tired of pleading to this segment of the white community and am convinced they will never change."

Instead, he said: "My faith is in the remainder of the white people in Bermuda, many of whom have called over the last 24 hours, with support and sympathy. These are the people who I am placing my faith in to make a change and embrace our black Bermudian people as our brothers and sisters."

Several other MPs spoke out over the behaviour of the protesters on Friday, with Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Mark Pettingill telling the House: "I was ashamed to be a white man in the community today."

Expanding on what he saw yesterday, Mr. Pettingill told The Royal Gazette: "I saw the incident when I was walking down the hill with Donte Hunt, a crowd of people around the car and blocking it, but we were not close enough to hear anything.

"I did hear the crowd chanting 'coward' as he drove off and it was all pretty ugly. In my speech I talked about 'perceptions'. Despite the spin it was clearly a majority white crowd. We wanted to stick to the issues and were concerned that this type of rally would do nothing to assist the debate, it clearly did not help."

Addressing the issue yesterday, Mr. Gosling said: "I was completely unaware of the incident at the time. It is a shame that a few people really got carried away in the heat of the moment and went beyond the call of duty.

"I called [Mr. DeSilva] and apologised. I cannot condone that sort of behaviour. We all have the right to freedom of speech but that comes within reason. Out of the 400 or so participants, it was only a small few who did this. It was nothing to do with the core."

Senator Michael Dunkley of the United Bermuda Party said: "It appears that Zane DeSilva's purpose since coming aboard under the Premier's banner is to provoke and stir the racial pot whenever and wherever possible.

"So it is disappointing but not surprising that he would try to turn an unseemly moment in last Friday's legitimate protest into a racial confrontation, even when it appears there was only one race of people involved in the incident.

"But those are his marching orders — to keep people divided — and so no one should expect anything else from him.

"A serious politician, genuinely interested in bringing people together, would not have issued such a statement — even if he thought it. When you don't know truth in people's minds it is better to go with the truth of what was seen rather than once again invoking the party's political playbook."

Sen. Dunkley added: "What we do know is that the people who challenged the Minister's car on Friday were just wrong and lost their heads for a moment. We're sure these protesters, once the smoke cleared, would agree with us on that. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened.

"In the meantime, we want to pass on our sympathies to Mr. DeSilva's family for having to experience an ugly moment in the political protest. Many politicians from all parties have suffered a similar fate, as have their families. It is not acceptable and we must all strive to live and learn to be better."