Rome - Rome reeled from the worst rioting in more than 30 years on Wednesday after a narrow victory by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in parliament, as experts pointed to possible early elections.
Berlusconi survived a no-confidence vote in the lower house by just three votes, following the rebellion of speaker of parliament Gianfranco Fini who left the ruling coalition with his allies earlier this year.
More than 100 people were injured on Tuesday in running street battles ignited by the vote between hundreds of anti-Berlusconi protesters and riot police in some of the most tourist-heavy streets of the Italian capital.
“What happened yesterday was not an expression of freedom. It was an attack by organised groups of hooligans,” Berlusconi said on a news show.
Protesters set cars alight, hurled cobblestones and beat officers with metal bars. Police retaliated by firing teargas and striking protesters.
The clashes revived memories of the “Years of Lead” in the 1970s and 1980s when Italy was rocked by violent political militancy.
“Rome was defiled like it hadn't been since 1977 during the terrible Years of Lead,” when Italy suffered a wave of terrorist attacks and social turmoil, said the Corriere della Sera daily.
Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno was quoted by La Repubblica saying the clashes were “shocking” and likened them to the “climate of gratuitous violence that was in the streets of Rome in the 1970s and that I hoped to never see again.”
“The absurd outburst of violence that devastated a part of Rome is an alarm bell because... a rebellion without rules is taking root,” Il Messaggero said.
La Repubblica said the violence was “a reflection of the unease, of the insecurity of a country that can no longer be heard, that no longer finds common ground between itself and those that govern it.”
Berlusconi on Wednesday also said he would now try to bolster his support in parliament by appealing to individual deputies to join his ruling majority as well as possibly including them in the government.
“Taking the country to a vote would be really irresponsible,” he said, referring to the current turbulence on European financial markets.
Columnist Stefano Folli, writing in business daily Il Sole 24
Ore, said: “The prime minister is moving prudently. He knows that the government is very weak and that he first has to patch it up and then consolidate it.
“There are two possibilities: trying to enlarge the majority in parliament... or prepare for early elections,” Folli said.
“It's clear that after the vote the government cannot re-start its politics of announcements... without guaranteeing even a basic governance,” he added.
La Repubblica said early elections were “the most likely outcome,” while Corriere della Sera said: “Early elections are closer after yesterday.”
The current Berlusconi government took power in 2008 - he has won two previous elections - and its mandate is only set to run out in 2013.
“His precarious majority hangs on a thousand impossible promises and will not allow the premier to approve anything,” La Repubblica said.
“The Cavaliere has won but the game has only just begun,” it added.
Berlusconi himself on Tuesday conceded that the vote would make it “more difficult” for his government to pass much-needed structural reforms. - Sapa-AFP