- Title: ITALY: 300,000 PROTEST AGAINST 1997 AUSTERITY BUDGET
- Date: 9th November 1996
- Summary: ROME, ITALY (NOVEMBER 9, 1996) (RTV ) 1. LV/SV DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING WITH FORZA ITALIA, ALLEANZA NAZIONALE AND CCD FLAGS (7 SHOTS) 0.33 2. SV HALF-DRESSED MANNEQUINS ON A TRUCK WITH A BANNER LISTING DIFFERENT TYPES OF TAX AND READING "PRODI LOOK HOW YOU'VE REDUCED US" (2 SHOTS) 0.46 3. SV/LV DEMONSTRATORS WITH BANNERS AND PLACARDS (10 SHOTS) 1.39 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 24th November 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROME, ITALY
- City:
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA10R2N78QBBZUC1D6AR872DOHT
- Story Text: INTRO: Thousands of people have joined Italy's centre-right opposition for a massive demonstration in Rome in protest of the government's 1997 austerity budget.
A protest march through the centre of Rome, organised by the centre-right opposition, attracted some 300,000 people on Saturday (November 9) to protest against the government's measures to cut the budget deficit.
People from across the country took part in the demonstration which began in two areas: one on the southern Via Tuscolana and the other near the Vatican in the northwest of the city.
Centre-right leaders including former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi were due to address the march in the central Piazza San Giovanni in Laterno, a traditional bastion of left-wing protests.
Centre-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi's austerity budget aims to slash 62.5 trillion lire (41 billion U.S. dollars) from the deficit next year to meet the level needed for membership in Europe's economic and monetary union.
Berlusconi has spearheaded several other rallies against the budget, which the opposition has called a rainstorm of taxes, but Saturday's appeared to be the biggest so far.
He blasted the government last Monday when shopkeepers across Italy protested against planned tax increases.
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