Leftist Italian intellects join Milan rally demanding Berlusconi to resign

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Leftist Italian intellects join Milan rally demanding Berlusconi to resign

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Leading leftist Italian intellectuals joined a Milan rally on Saturday calling on Silvio Berlusconi to resign from office even as Italy's prime minister reaffirmed vows to stay put.

06 February,2011 07:03 am

We are here to defend the honor of Italy, to remind the world that all Italians are not the same, popular novelist Eco told thousands of demonstrators at a Milan concert hall.Drawing comparisons between Berlusconi and embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, he added, jokingly, The little default is not wanting to step down.Greeted like a rock star, anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano for his part declared, Our democracy has been taken hostage.He called on the demonstrators to rebel against an image of a corrupt country and affirmed of the right to dream of a cleaner Italy, at the rally that also featured Italys former president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.Berlusconi has remained defiant in the face of his latest legal troubles, with judges set to request he stand trial in a case involving a dancer known as Ruby the Heart-Stealer.