Anti-expat leaflets circulating the Island have been condemned by the Premier Alex Scott and other concerned Bermudians.

The hate-sheet, found stuck to cars in the City Hall car park as well as in Middle Road, Paget, urges foreign workers to go home.

It reads: ?To all who this may concern, please leave, we don?t need you, foreign workers are taking up too much space!! By order of us concerned Bermudians.?

Premier Alex Scott said he was unaware of the leaflets.

But he added: ?Contract workers are welcome in Bermuda. I don?t know who did that. It?s certainly not the majority view in Bermuda.?

And fellow Bermudian George Smith, who brought a copy in for the paper, was disgusted by the anonymous posting he has twice had to remove from near his Middle Road, Paget home this week.

Mr. Smith, 63, said: ?It?s total discrimination. How would Bermuda survive without expatriates ? and I was born in Bermuda and my family have been here 400 years.?

He said if Bermudians didn?t want to do certain jobs then somebody else did and he feared the leaflet?s authors was trying to stir up division.

?I reported it to the Human Rights Commission but they said there is not much they can do.

?Then I took it to the Police station so at least they have a record of it.?

Police said if caught the bill posters ran the risk of $5,000 fines for unlawful discrimination ? repeat offenders could be jailed for three years and be fined $15,000.

Human Rights Commission (HRC) Acting Executive Officer Graveney Bannister said: ?The HRC assisted by referring the matter to the Police in the presence of the gentleman concerned.

?The flyer concerned was found on a telephone pole in Paget. There was not enough information thereon to identify the source.

?It is the mandate of the HRC to promote respect, dignity, and the rights of others.

The behaviour of the individual or individuals is unfortunate, and the HRC hopes that in referring this matter to the Police Service it will be speedily resolved.?

Mr. Bannister said as part of the mandate for the Human Rights Act, the Commission promotes acceptance of diversity.

?The promotion of ill-will or hostility against any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, or ethnic or national origin is not encouraged by the Human Rights Act 1981 [section 8A(1).?

That section said it was was an offence to promote ill will or hostility against any section of the public distinguished by colour, race or ethnic or national origins.

Phil Wells, author of popular expat blog, LimeyinBermuda, said he had not heard about the leaflets.

He added: ?They certainly don?t bother me. I think most Bermudians recognise the need for foreign workers.

?If the author of those leaflets has a problem with the number of foreign workers here, perhaps he should ask Derrick Burgess why the immigration department continues to issue them with work permits.?

More than one quarter of Bermuda?s labour forces is imported because there are too few locals to take the jobs. Bermuda also has a declining birth rate which will see the local labour pool decrease by one fifth by 2042.