http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-italy.html
Rome Swamped by 2 Million Protesters
By REUTERS
March 23, 2002
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| At least two million trade unionists descended on Rome on Saturday, filling the city center with a sea of red flags in a massive show of force against plans by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to re-write labor laws. |
ROME (Reuters) - At least two million trade unionists descended on Rome on Saturday, filling the city center with a sea of red flags in a massive show of force against plans by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to re-write labor laws.
The demonstration was also broadened into a protest against political violence following the killing last Tuesday of a senior government adviser who helped draw up changes to Italy's long-standing employment rules.
More than 9,000 buses and 60 special trains carried members of Italy's largest union, the CGIL, from all corners of Italy to Rome, bringing the capital to a standstill.
There was a heavy police presence and helicopters buzzed overhead monitoring the crowds. Hundreds of anti-globalization protesters mingled with the throngs of marchers.
Television broadcasts and union leaders estimated the turnout at more than two million. Police said there were at least one million but didn't provide a definitive figure.
Tuesday's murder of government adviser Marco Biagi by leftist extremists cast a pall over the event, but union leaders said they would not let the killing lessen their resolve. They held a minute's silence during the rally to honor Biagi.
``We are here to fight terrorism, to support democracy and to show the government its intentions are wrong,'' CGIL leader Sergio Cofferati told supporters crammed into the Circus Maximus, site of ancient Rome's chariot races.
``With your courage and your passion, we will realize our dreams,'' he said to loud cheers and applause.
Biagi was a respected economist who had worked with both the previous center-left administration and the current conservative government on labor issues. An offshoot of the Red Brigades guerrilla movement claimed responsibility for his killing.
GIANT GATHERING
The CGIL said Saturday's turnout was one of the biggest in modern Italian history and exceeded a 1994 rally when more than a million people took to the streets to protest pension reforms put forward by Berlusconi during his first stint in government.
Shortly after that demonstration, Berlusconi's government collapsed and he was not voted back into power until last year.
Cofferati said Saturday's rally was only the first step in a campaign by unions against the government's policies: next week they will hold a mass demonstration against terrorism and for workers' rights and will set a date for a general strike which could paralyze the country.
``Our fundamental rights are at stake, the rights of workers and the poor,'' said Pietro, 50, a construction worker who traveled to Rome from Brindisi on the heel of Italy. ``I couldn't not be here.''
``I'm here not so much for myself, but for my 13-month-old daughter,'' said Maria Cristina, 30, a secretary. ``I want to fight for the rights she should have when she starts to work.''
Unionists say the proposed labor reforms will make it easier for companies to sack staff. Berlusconi says they will make the labor market more flexible and create jobs.
While Cofferati and other union leaders -- who together represent some 12 million workers and pensioners -- reveled in the giant show of support, Berlusconi's allies were dismissive.
``This is not good for the Italian people,'' said Renato Schifani, a senior senator from Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
``At this difficult time, we would have expected someone like Cofferati to try to reduce the social friction which risks feeding the atmosphere of terrorism. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case today.''
HIGH TENSION
The march comes at a time of heightened social and political tension in Italy, the shooting of Biagi raising fears of a return to the political violence of the 1970s and 1980s.
While unionists were among the first to condemn Biagi's killing, his death and its timing has left the labor movement in a delicate position, with some rightist politicians linking extreme left-wing union factions to the murder.
Cofferati was quick to denounce those who made that connection and said if anything Biagi's murder had strengthened his and the union's resolve to tackle the government on reform.
``Terrorism cannot be used to twist social relations,'' he said, adding that Berlusconi would not get his way.
Waving banners reading ``Terrorism kills our rights'' and ''Don't touch Article 18'' -- a reference to the labor reform the government wants to push through -- Saturday's protesters appeared determined but peaceful.
Married couple Roberto and Roberta, both 28, said they attended the march because they fear that their most basic rights are threatened.
``Touching Article 18 is meddling with the very foundation of democracy in this country,'' Roberto said.
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