Premier Paula Cox made an emotional call for unity and an end to partisan politics in a ceremony attended by hundreds.

Members of Parliament joined Ms Cox in a march from City Hall to Victoria Park the event was organised by religious leaders as part of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Reflection.

Ms Cox told those who attended Saturday’s event: “We have some serious business ahead of us ... [it is time] for us to put our ego and park it at the door.”

The Premier was joined by Government MPs Lovitta Foggo, Wayne Furbert, Dennis Lister and Dame Jennifer Smith, and Opposition leader Kim Swan and UBP MP Cole Simons as she spoke.

Attendee Sara Westhead said: “Premier Cox all but promised that partisan politics needed to end, and that without both sides coming together we won’t find solutions to the Island’s problems. She was referring especially to gang violence.

“She did get a little emotional, and by the end she looked close to tears.”

As part of an improvised speech Ms Cox quoted a poem by British poet Christopher Logue, ‘Come to the Edge’.

The poem reads: “Come to the edge. We might fall. Come to the edge. It’s too high. Come to the edge. And they came, and we pushed, and they flew.”

Said Ms Cox: “[It] represents the politics of trust. We are here today as a community to strengthen that trust.”

The Premier called for a new social agenda that would cross party lines and seek unity and real ways to solve the problems Bermuda faces.

The event was meant as both an opportunity for residents to give thanks for being spared damage in Hurricane Igor and to recognise the problems the Island faces, Ms Foggo said.

“The Premier’s message was to show the leaders and the religious community standing together, to say thanks from a religious point of view, and to acknowledge that we are together and united to serve against the ills of our society.”

That MPs joined Ms Cox on stage for her speech made for an important show of unity, Ms Foggo added.

“Her message was that Government is there to serve the people both sides of the House and people can count on Government to serve the people as it should.”

The St. David’s MP also praised the turnout.

“It shows that there are people in the community who will come together as one voice, to acknowledge all the good we receive as a people and that there are ills in our society which we are trying to combat. There is still that camaraderie that we have as Bermudians.”

The event took place hours after a double shooting on St. Monica’s Road which placed two men in Intensive Care at King Edward Memorial Hospital. One of the men was paralysed in the 5.30am incident, which saw several shots fired.

Mr Simons, Opposition MP for Smith’s South, said the gathering was brought about by “religious leaders getting together and deciding to row in the same direction for the good of the Country”.

“The Premier got up and called for all of us to work together for the betterment of the community and her people. She called on the collective wisdom of the community, and hopefully she will be able to go forward in that wisdom,” he said.

The two-hour service started at 3.30pm and was opened by Bishop Neville Smith, of the Radnor Road Christian Fellowship. The keynote speaker was Pastor Terence Stovell, of the Better Covenant Christian Fellowship.

Bishop Vernon Lambe, of the New Testament Chuch of God, backed Ms Cox’s comments, calling them “a proclamation of a vision for the nation by a leader”.

“Many of us have longed for a concise, clear-cut vision,” he added.

Event chairman Elder Kevin Santucci, of the Devonshire Seventh-day Adventist Church, said afterwards that violence in Bermuda’s streets could not keep people from coming together.

“Today we saw how the community can come together for a common course, and that was to reflect and give thanks to God who has been so good to Bermuda this year,” he said.