David Burt, the acting Leader of the Opposition, said he was “shocked” by an editorial he read in The Royal Gazette about a perceived lack of public protest over gun crime, and called on the editor to make a retraction.

Mr Burt described the editorial published last Wednesday as “disturbing at best”, taking particular issue with the line that stated the marches over the One Bermuda Alliance’s Pathways to Status immigration reform “discoloured our most famous street”.

He told MPs in the House of Assembly last Friday: “I have absolutely no idea what that means but I wonder what on earth would motivate the editor of The Royal Gazette to write this in an editorial in 2016 in Bermuda.”

Mr Burt drew attention to a reader’s letter in response to the editorial calling it “very, very interesting”.

He quoted that letter: “Interestingly, you drew comparisons with the Pathways to Status protest and questioned why it should draw such attention while shooting deaths do not.

“For your information, Sir, that was a protest against gun violence because that protest sought to stop the very policies that have created a marginalised group in society who are always made to be second behind the needs of business and others and who have therefore created their own community in which they can be heard and respected. The two are inextricably linked.”

Mr Burt adding that the editor speaking from a “bully pulpit” should retract the editorial.