ROME, 31 October 2004 — Several thousand people took to the streets of Rome yesterday to protest the war in Iraq and demand the withdrawal of some 3,000 Italian troops based there.
Several leaders of the opposition took part in the protest in rainy conditions, in which organizers estimated a turnout of 70,000. Police did not give a figure. “The war is not yet over and we must continue to keep mobilized,” said Oliviero Diliberto, secretary general of the Italian Communist Party.
Green Party President Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said: “One hundred thousand dead is a good reason to demand the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.”
