While the eyes of the world are on the threat of disruption for the 2017 America’s Cup, the People’s Campaign activist group has charged that the Government’s response to “those who disagree with them” is also being watched.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the group expressed shock at what it called “bully tactics” employed in the non-renewal of a work permit for the Reverend Nicholas Tweed, the pastor who is also one of its founding members.

“We don’t need an international event to make world news,” the statement continued. “The Bermuda Government is being watched for their disruptive and petty policies that undermine the social stability of our island.”

The group was responding to a statement by Grant Gibbons, the Minister of Economic Development, made in Thursday after the Bermuda Industrial Union threatened to put the America’s Cup in jeopardy if the Government refused to grant a work permit for Mr Tweed, and scrap its project to build a new terminal at LF Wade International Airport.

Any disruption would “set our island back immeasurably and put all of our futures at risk”, Dr Gibbons said.

The People’s Campaign questioned why the Government could urge Bermudians to support the America’s Cup while trying to “demonise and destroy one man for speaking up for the rights of Bermudians” — and accused the Government of securing a future for business at the expense of “the faith community, social advocacy and youth”.