.

And organisation spokesman Mike Marsh said it was now necessary to by-pass Premier Alex Scott because Government was "riding roughshod" over the will of the people.

The organisation presented a fresh petition of more than 15,000 signatures to Premier Alex Scott last Thursday, asking him to respond within seven days. As of last night no reply from the Premier had been received.

The petition, which calls for a referendum on Independence, contained 15,523 signatures of support ? 301 more than the Progressive Labour Party obtained at the last General Election.

"Because the Premier has not responded within the time that we asked him to respond, my comment is simply that Bermuda is no longer a democratic society," Mr. Marsh said yesterday.

"It is being run by people who ignore the will of the people. The Premier's ignoring a huge 52.67 per cent of the turnout of the last General Election ? 301 votes more than the PLP got in the last General Election. It would appear he wishes to ride over that roughshod and ignore it.

"I don't see that it's fair to have a referendum at the same time as a General Election. I want a commitment from the Premier. He has the word of the people and it's time he made a commitment."

Despite the group's wishes, Mr. Marsh said he was not confident a meeting with Governor John Vereker would take place.

When presenting a copy of the petition to Government House last week, Deputy Governor Nick Carter informed the group that Sir John was reluctant to become embroiled in politics.

"If we can't meet with the Governor the second thing we can do is go to London and approach whoever it is who represents Bermuda in the UK. The third option is a march and the fourth option is to utilise a huge amount of publicity to help Bermudians understand what a referendum gives them ? free choice in making a decision on what could be the most important event in many generations."

Mr. Marsh added that Mr. Carter also advised the group against a protest march.

"He said that the Governor would be most displeased if we held a march. He said that in front of eight of us at Government House," Mr. Marsh said.

That claim was later denied by Mr. Carter, who said: "No, I did say that the Governor would be reluctant to meet them, but as far as a march is concerned, they can do whatever they feel necessary ? this is a democracy."