On Saturday, some 2.5 million people took to Rome’s cobblestoned streets in protest of Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing government. The demonstration was organized by Walter Veltroni’s centre-left Democratic party (PD).
Left-wing activists assembled at Piazza della Repubblica and marched across the Eternal City to the Circus Maximus, carrying with them a sea of red and green opposition flags and proclaiming that “another Italy is possible.”
Veltroni, whose PD is riding low in the polls after its defeat to Berlusconi’s new conservative People of Freedom (PDL) in May, called the protest the biggest in recent years.
At the rally, Veltroni proclaimed: “[This] is proof that democracy is alive and well… We could never have imagined such a large turnout,” he added.
Veltroni heaped scorn on Berlusconi, a controversial self-made billionaire and media mogul, whose conservative policies and legal amendments to avoid prosecution for alleged corruption have sparked indignation.
“Democracy is not run by the board of a company,” Veltroni said, swiping at Berlusconi’s credentials to administer the country and saying he was “totally incompetent to face the grave social and economic crisis.”
“Remember another Italy is possible,” Veltroni added.
