ROME: Thousands of Italian public sector and transport workers took to the streets Friday in a strike which snarled air, rail and roads as Italy's biggest trade union protested the economic situation. “Let's break down the wall of the economic crisis,” read a banner held up at one rally through the center of Rome to the Colosseum. 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: “Government revenues need to be used to create jobs and growth.” 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.
