Government MP Glenn Blakeney pushed ZBM reporter Gary Moreno twice and told him: ?I can touch you because I?m a Bermudian and you are just a Trinidadian,? a court heard yesterday.

The pair went ?chest to chest? during a dispute at 2005 Cup Match, as tempers flared over exclusive broadcasting rights for the cricketing showcase.

In the first day of the Magistrates? Court trial, Mr. Moreno said he was interviewing Nick Carter, Deputy Governor at the time of the incident, in the St. George?s Cricket Club clubhouse when he was approached by the PLP backbencher.

Mr. Moreno said Blakeney, 51, who is MP for Devonshire North Central and also president of Hott 107.5 FM radio station, asked him who had given him permission to conduct the interview.

The reporter told the court he had just spoken to St. George?s Cricket Club president Neil Paynter who ?did not seem to have a problem? being interviewed.

Mr. Moreno said he told Blakeney he had been told by Bermuda Broadcasting Corporation bosses that although Hott had rights to televise the actual game, ZBM were able to report on ?peripheral activities? and interview people around the ground.

The reporter said the MP approached Mr. Paynter before returning and asking ZBM to switch off their cameras.

Mr. Moreno said he and cameraman Ian Rawlins complied immediately and stopped to talk to two friends they saw on the way out.

It was then, Mr. Moreno said, that he felt Blakeney push him in the rib area. ?I said ?do not put your hands on me again?, or words to that effect,? Mr. Moreno told Crown counsel Graveney Bannister in court yesterday.

Mr. Bannister asked: ?How much force was used?? He replied: ?Enough to get my attention.? Mr. Moreno said, after he asked Blakeney not to touch him, the MP replied: ?You are a Trinidadian and I can do it again.?

The reporter claimed Blakeney pushed him a second time when he said that, this time in the chest area.

The court heard the reporter then shouted back: ?I?m proud to be a Trinidadian and always will be.?

He said he kept repeating this, as people were telling him to calm down, before another ?guy? in the clubhouse said: ?Go to f*** back home.?

Mr. Moreno said he then ?stormed? out of the club, after being told by the president that it was best if he left.

The reporter said he never gave Blakeney permission to push him ? and told Mr. Bannister he made no attempt to hit the MP after he was pushed.

There was no ?bad blood? between the pair before incident, the complainant told the court.

He later said he had interviewed Mr. Blakeney when Hott launched, despite some misgivings from some at the BBC about interviewing a media rival.

?We have always had a cordial relationship,? he added.

Mr. Blakeney, of Stovell Bay Road, Pembroke, denies a charge of unlawful assault on July 28, 2005, on the afternoon of the first day of Cup Match.

During cross-examination by Victoria Pearman, for Blakeney, the ZBM reporter was asked if he was aware of any bad feeling between Hott and ZBM over Cup Match broadcasting rights.

?I do not get involved in those things,? replied Mr. Moreno. ?I was there as a reporter under instructions from my boss.?

He later admitted he was aware ZBM tried to get exclusive rights but had been beaten by Hott, although he said any disappointment at the company on missing out was not communicated to him.

He said he was not aware of a complaint made by ZBM to the Telecommunications Ministry over the rights decision.

Ms Pearman said after her client interrupted the interview with the Deputy Governor and Mr. Carter moved away, Mr. Moreno said in an ?aggressive manner? to the MP: ?What are you talking about man??

Mr. Moreno said he did not recall saying that, but did say he told Blakeney to speak to the club president.

After the cameras were switched off, Ms Pearman said Blakeney then said to the reporter: ?Come on Gary man, as a Trinidadian how can you be disrespecting me as a Bermudian on my biggest national holiday.?

Mr. Moreno told the court: ?He never said that to me.?

He added this was said on a radio talk show the morning after the fracas.

The reporter stated that after the second shove he told Blakeney he was ?proud to be a Trinidadian?.

Ms Pearman later said: ?At no time did Mr. Blakeney touch you or insult you, in fact you were the one whose the aggressor on that day.?

Mr. Moreno denied the suggestion. He said he was angry when told he could be pushed because he was a Trinidadian, and said he took issue with someone using his nationality in a ?derogatory manner? ? and the implication that because he was not a Bermudian he could be pushed around.

When Ms Pearman suggested the complainant was getting angry in court, he replied: ?I?m not getting angry now. I?m explaining how I felt at the time.?

He later seemed to question what him being Trinidadian had to do with him being a reporter at Cup Match.

Earlier, the first witness in the trial, ZBM cricket commentator and Saltus deputy head Albert Steede Jr., told the court how he witnessed an altercation between Mr. Moreno and Blakeney.

He was in the lunch queue at the clubhouse when he spotted Mr. Moreno and cameraman Mr. Rawlins.

He said he later saw the MP approach the reporter and that he seemed a ?bit aggressive?.

He said the defendant, who he said he had a lot of admiration for, normally had a ?pleasant manner? but on this occasion was ?visibly upset about something?.

He later said he saw the defendant push the reporter in the chest.

?They were chest to chest at that time,? he said, adding that ?it was not excessive force?.

Mr. Steede said Mr. Moreno immediately put up his hands in a conciliatory gesture and said firmly: ?Please, do not touch me.?

He added that he was surprised and ?shocked? to hear Blakeney say: ?I can touch you because I?m a Bermudian and you are just a Trinidadian.?

The commentator said he and the cameraman stood between the pair because they were ?two prominent figures in our community? and he did not want things to escalate further in a room of up to 150 people.

Many dignitaries were there, the court heard, and the Governor might have been present.

Mr. Steede denied a claim from Ms Pearman that his version of events was untrue and he was ?tailoring his evidence? to help a colleague.

?In my profession, right is right and wrong is wrong,? said the witness. ?If Mr. Moreno was out of order and Mr. Blakeney asked me to testify I would do so... I stand up for what I believe in.?

At one stage, Mr. Moreno complained to the Magistrate that Blakeney was ?making signals? to him from the dock.

Blakeney claimed he had ?no idea? what the complainant was talking about and accused Mr. Moreno of ?trying to stare me out?.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo told both parties not to engage in any ?physical exchanges?.

The case, which has been adjourned on several occasions in the last two years, proceeded before a mainly empty public gallery yesterday.

However, Public Safety Minister David Burch sat in the public gallery for about 30 minutes as the case unfolded. The trial was adjourned until December 6.