The last couple of years in Rome have seen numerous demonstrations against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with people taking to the streets in their thousands to demand his resignation.
Yesterday's protest, however, which took the title of Primo Levi's famous novel If Not Now, When? as its call to action, and saw a million women across Italy demanding that Berlusconi resign because of allegations that he had sex with young women and prostitutes, was a truly global event, with gatherings in 200 cities and towns not only in Rome, but also in London, Paris, Madrid and New York.
Hundreds of thousands of women accompanied by supportive male friends and family packed Piazza del Popolo, the surrounding streets and Villa Borghese, many carrying banners denouncing Berlusconi and the way he is destroying the image of Italy and its women. At last, this was a country finally saying Basta! – Enough! - and demanding an end to degrading Italian attitudes to women in all walks of life.
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