The black founder of an online discussion group accused by Cabinet Minister Walter Roban of being affiliated to the white supremacist British National Party has described the claim as entirely false.

Wayne Ball Jr. told The Royal Gazette he set up Bermudians Against Terrorists (BAT) — the name of which he has since changed to Bermudians Against Government Corruption (BAGC) — as a place for people to exchange views after the Premier's decision to bring four former Guantánamo Bay detainees to the Island.

Mr. Ball, a 20-year-old university student, launched the discussion forum on Facebook less than a month ago and it has already attracted 1,880 members.

On June 17, a day after a massive protest outside Cabinet against Premier Ewart Brown, Mr. Roban linked BAT with the demonstration and stated that it was connected to the British National Party.

He claimed in an essay on the PLP's website that BAT was "another right-wing pseudo fascist organisation emerging from the depths of our Island".

The Minister without Portfolio wrote: "As per usual, instead of confining themselves to old-style basements or a dark smoky meeting room, they now use the Internet as their shadowy realm to hide and spew their venom and hate.

"Bermudians Against Terrorists BAT (affiliate of the British National Party) are clearly savouring what they see as a victory in terms of a strong show in numbers versus a poor showing for supporters of the Government at the Cabinet Office."

The British National Party (BNP) is a racist, far-right political party which seeks to reverse and stem non-white immigration into the UK. Black, Asian and Jewish people are barred from becoming members.

The PLP admitted last night there was "no demonstrated evidence" that BAT was in any way linked to the extremist BNP but claimed in an editor's note on the website: "The ideological affiliation between the two groups on the basis of xenophobia is clear".

Mr. Ball, of Somerset, said he believed Mr. Roban falsely linked his group to the BNP out of a desire to depict those protesting against Dr. Brown as solely white.

"He didn't check who was the creator of the group," he said. "It was definitely dirty tactics. I just think that they were desperate in the situation to make it look like it was only a white Bermudian protest. I take offence at that."

He added there was little he could do about the accusation. "They are wanting to accuse everything of having a racist overtone. A lot of people have commented on it to me. A lot of people realise it is them playing slander."

Mr. Ball said he set up his group "on a whim" after he and his friends agreed that Bermudians needed to talk about the Island's issues.

He attended the June 16 protest and joined rally organisers on the steps of Sessions House to explain that he'd changed the name from BAT to Bermudians Against Government Corruption to better reflect the public mood.

One of the rally organisers, Erica Rance-Cariah, has since become an administrator of BAGC. She agreed that Mr. Roban's BNP claim was "totally unfounded".

"There is absolutely no affiliation," she said. "Wayne Ball is a young black Bermudian man. He started the group and he did it completely independently.

"It's definitely an untrue comment. He [Mr. Roban] didn't research it. It was totally off the cuff. He had no business doing it."

Mr. Roban did not return calls yesterday. Asked after his Cabinet appointment on June 23 if he stood by the BNP claim, he said: "People can take what I said for what they feel it may have meant."

He said he wrote the essay, in which he likened protesters to "rabid dogs", after attending the June 16 rally. "I wrote the letter representing the feelings that came out of the event for me."

The editor's note added to the essay last night reads: "Though there is no demonstrated evidence of subordinate affiliation between Bermudians Against Terrorists and the British National Party, one can clearly see that in founding such a group directly after the announcement of four Uighur refugees being accepted into Bermuda, that the ideological affiliation between the two groups on the basis of xenophobia is clear."