Clashes in Rome as Berlusconi survives no-confidence vote

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday survived a crucial no-confidence vote in Parliament by three votes, triggering violent clashes in the streets of Rome that left 90 people injured.

Mr Berlusconi won with a razor-thin majority, with 314 lawmakers voting in his favour, 311 against and two abstentions in the 630-seat lower house.

“I didn’t just survive, I’m strong,” Mr Berlusconi said, adding, however, that enacting much-needed structural reforms would now be “more difficult”.

“I am convinced that an election campaign at this time is something the country absolutely does not need,” Mr Berlusconi told reporters.

But he added: “If it’s impossible to govern, we won’t stay floating. I will go into an election campaign with great enthusiasm.”

Mr Berlusconi’s current mandate is only set to run out in 2013.

The Italian leader also said he would aim to widen his ruling coalition and the government to include former foes who voted for him.

Parliament speaker Gianfranco Fini, whose defection from the coalition led to the no-confidence vote, said Mr Berlusconi had only won “a numerical victory”.

“It remains to be seen in the weeks to come whether Berlusconi can also say he won from the political point of view,” said Mr Fini, who conceded however that his Future and Freedom for Italy movement had suffered a “painful” defeat.

Mr Berlusconi also won a confidence vote in the Senate with a large majority.

Angry protesters banged on the metal blinds of shuttered shops in the centre of Rome as word spread that Mr Berlusconi had won the twin vote.

Some of the protesters then set cars alight and hurled cobblestones at police in chaotic scenes in some of Rome’s most tourist-heavy streets.

“I’m really very ashamed of being Italian. Today is the end of Italian democracy,” Marianna Martellozzo, 24, a student, told AFP.

Riot police fired tear gas and could be seen striking some of the protesters with truncheons in running street fights. An AFP reporter saw a police officer pull out his gun as he was dragged to the ground by protesters. Several protesters were taken away, some with blood on their faces.

At least 90 people were injured in the violence, including 50 security officers and 40 protesters, officials said. Forty-one people were detained on charges of violence, vandalism and use of illegal arms.

The clashes came after a peaceful march by several thousand anti-Berlusconi protesters through the centre of Rome. There were also protests in some of Italy’s biggest cities including Genoa, Milan, Naples and Turin.