Tens of thousands rally as Italian strike snarls traffic

ROME: Tens of thousands of Italian workers took to the streets Friday in a strike that snarled air and rail links as Italy's biggest union protested the government's failure to shake off the economic crisis.

"This is a great day of struggle," CGIL leader Susanna Camusso told reporters as she marched at one protest in Naples.

"Government revenues need to be used to create jobs and growth," she said.

At another rally near the Colosseum in Rome, one banner read: "Let's break down the wall of the economic crisis." Thousands of protesters waved the red flags of the CGIL union and chanted anti-government slogans.

A rally of tens of thousands in Milan was joined by Antonio Di Pietro, a former anti-corruption judge who is one of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fiercest critics and heads up the Italy of Values party.

"The crisis is over only in Berlusconi's home. Not in the homes of four million Italians who can't get to the end of the month," he said.

Dozens of flights were cancelled in Italy's main airports and some train services were suspended.

Preliminary figures from the government showed some 13 percent of public sector workers went on strike.

CGIL leader Susanna Camusso, who took part in a rally in Naples, said: Italy has struggled to emerge from the global economic crisis.

Economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 0.1 percent, taking the full-year result to just 1.3 percent. The government has revised down its forecasts for 2011 and is now predicting 1.1 percent growth this year.

Italy's unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in March from 8.2 percent in February -- the first increase in months. The unemployment rate among young people aged between 15 and 24 also rose to 28.6 percent in March.