Financial crisis sparks mass protest
05-04-2009
Several hundred thousand workers, pensioners, immigrants and students filled a Rome park in protest at the Italian government's handling of the financial crisis.
Led by Italy's largest union, the left-wing Italian General Confederation of Labour, many wore red hats or waved the CGIL's red flag as helicopters circled above Rome's Circo Massimo, an ancient hippodrome.
"There's too big a gap between what needs to be done and what is being done," CGIL leader Guglielmo Epifani told the throng, with banners reading "Together to Build a Different Future" and "Down with the New Mussolini."
Italy went into recession in the third quarter of last year.
