No Berlusconi Day 2 – Wake up Italy!

Ten months after the first No B Day protest led by Il Popolo Viola (literally the “Purple People”) on 5 December last year, tens of thousands of us took to the streets of Rome yet again today to demand the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Once again, this was a protest organised entirely via Facebook and social networks online and whilst the numbers may have been smaller than at last year's demonstration, there was a noisy and decidedly angrier turn out this time round, with an atmosphere of collective exasperation with the current political situation palpably in the air.

Things went off peacefully, however, with frustration vented via rousing choruses of Bella Ciao and a good smattering of chants against Berlusconi and his cohorts. Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the Italia dei Valori party, was given a hero's welcome when he joined marchers at Piazza della Repubblica and walked amongst the cheering crowds along the streets of the capital to Piazza San Giovanni, where the demonstration continued with speeches and music.