Rome: 2.7 million people demonstrate against the crisis

According to the police headquarters, only 200,000 people were there. In reality, five different processions took hours to get to the main meeting point, the Circo Massimo. Dozens of trains, two boats and 7,000 buses took people from all over Italy to Rome in order to demonstrate against the inequality of income (a recent survey showed that in Italy one out of three people state to have a year-income of less than 10,000 Euros while 0.9 per cent of the population state they rely on an income of over 100,000 Euros) and to ask for fair social measures.

Many politicians joined the demostration. Among others, Dario Franceschini, the secretary of PD (the Democratic Party of the left). Many were also families and students. There were also many immigrants, often illegal, coming from all over the country. One of them talked to the crowd on the stage denouncing how immigrants are the first to lose their jobs and how the increasing racial discrimantion in Italy is serious and dangerous.

Many stories were reported by workers on the stage. Among the others, one of a 28-year-old teacher reporting how from next September, 42,000 people working in schools will be made redundant.

On the stage, musicians and artists also performed. The son of a factory-worker told the story of his dad who died on the job due to the poor application of safety rules (Italy is characterized by a very high rate of deaths on the jobs, called in Italian "white deaths", a recent survey showed that in Italy 2,500 accidents happen everyday on the job and three where people die).

When the secretary of Cgil mentioned the name of the Prime Minister Berlusconi, the crowd started to whistle and shout so loud that he had to stop for few seconds.