Rome
Sat Mar 23,10:14 AM ET
By Luke Baker
ROME (Reuters) - Up to two million unionists descended on Rome on
Saturday, painting the city center red with billowing 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 drew 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, bringing central
Rome to a standstill.
There was a heavy police presence on the watch for any disturbances
and helicopters buzzed overhead monitoring the huge crowds. Hundreds
of anti-globalization protesters mingled with the throng of marchers.
Television broadcasts and union leaders estimated the turnout at "up to
two million" people. Police said there were at least a million protesters
although they said it was too early to give 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.
"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.
"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 it will make the labor market
more flexible and create jobs.
While Cofferati and other union leaders reveled in the gigantic 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, with the shooting of Biagi
raising fears of a return to the politically motivated violence that scarred the country in the 1970s and
1980s.
While unionists were among the first to condemn Biagi's killing, the death and its timing has left the labor
movement in a delicate position, with some rightist politicians linking union opposition of labor reform to
the murder.
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.
"We are answering those who accuse us of being with the terrorists. My father was killed by the Red
Brigades. I'm here to say that workers and protesters are not at all supporters of terrorists," said
Salvatore Berardi.
Saturday's march is one of several planned in the days and weeks ahead which pit the power of the
unions -- representing some 12 million people -- against the government.
On Wednesday the three major union federations are co-sponsoring a mass demonstration against
terrorism and for workers' rights. The same day, they will set a date for a general strike, expected to take
place in April.
===== "The tradition of all the dead generations
weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living"
-Karl Marx
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