Dozens of students rallied on top of Saint Mark’s basilica in Venice, Italy yesterday and unfurled a massive banner in the latest protest against proposed university budget cuts.

The banner was hung over the facade of the famous mediaeval basilica on one side of Saint Mark’s Square, which was flooded as it often is in autumn months because of the high tide and strong winds. Students on Thursday briefly occupied the Colosseum in Rome and the Leaning Tower of Pisa and unfurled protest banners as confused tourists looked on.

Students and academics are outraged at cuts of around nine billion euros and 130,000 jobs in the education system that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government has engaged to carry out by 2013.

The Chamber of Deputies is set to vote next Tuesday on the reform.

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