Italian leftists stage two anti-Berlusconi protests (AFP)
12 minutes ago
ROME (AFP) - Activists from Italy's left took to the streets of Rome Saturday to protest against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative policies and his avoiding prosecution for alleged corruption.
Members of the small Italy of Values party flooded the Piazza Navona in the heart of Rome for a signature campaign against a law described as "the impunity guaranteed to Silvio Berlusconi."
Some 3,500 makeshift stands had been put up across the country to get the required 500,000 signatures to enable a referendum on January 8 on the law protecting Berlusconi from prosecution while he is in power.
"When dictatorship is at the door, we must resist it immediately before it is too late," former anti-corruption judge Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the values party, told the crowd.
Italy's Nobel laureate for literature Dario Fo called the law "unconstitutional" and one that "would never be accepted in any other civilised country."
The controversial measure grants immunity from prosecution to the four highest ranking politicians in the state while they are in office.
Berlusconi, 72, with a media empire in Italy, had been on trial since March 2007 on charges of giving 600,000 dollars (380,000 euros) in bribes to a British lawyer to hold allegedly incriminating information in a tax fraud case.
A Milan court threw out the case earlier this month after the new law was passed in July.
Meanwhile Italy's far-left Communists and Greens staged another demonstration in Rome against the conservative policies of Berlusconi's government.
The organisers said the rally drew some 300,000 people, while police put the figure at around 100,000.
It was the first protest by the far left after losing to the Italian right-wing in parliamentary elections in April.
