Berlusconi returns to lead rally against left

ROME, Dec 2 (Reuters) Silvio Berlusconi led tens of thousands of Italians today in the first big rally against Prime Minister Romano Prodi, shrugging off his collapse a week ago to denounce ''a government dominated by leftist extremists''.

The 70-year-old former prime minister ignored advice to rest after fainting at a rally on Sunday and spending three nights in hospital. The billionaire businessman harangued the centre-left government for ''taxing Italians without representing them''.

Berlusconi said more than two million people thronged Rome's Piazza San Giovanni to protest against Prodi's 2007 budget plans.

There was no police estimate of the crowd, which carried banners saying ''Prodi out!'' and ''More taxes = less freedom''.

''We're here because we want to stop the left impoverishing Italy materially and spiritually,'' said Berlusconi, depicting himself as champion of Catholic values ''based on marriage between a man and a woman'', and of Italian business.

It was a major show of strength by a man who, days before his collapse, was quoted saying he would not fight another election. One aide said he was ''a fighter, like Rocky: just when you think he is out for the count, he comes back to win''.

The founder of Italy's biggest party, Forza Italia, Berlusconi was prime minister for five years until losing an election in April.

Since then there has been subdued talk about who could replace him as opposition leader, with no heir apparent.

SICILY RALLY The centre-right opposition was not united for today's rally, with the centrist UDC, which questions Berlusconi's leadership more openly than the right wing, holding its own rally in Sicily.

''The alliance we're in needs profound changes. Some of its members should take the political debate more seriously,'' said Rocco Buttiglione, a UDC leader and former Berlusconi minister The rally in Rome, called to protest against the tax hikes and spending cuts in the 2007 budget, turned into a show of support for Berlusconi and general denunciation of Prodi's government, which includes Catholic centrists and communists.

Prodi has struggled to convince his own allies to accept cutbacks aimed at bringing the budget deficit under the European Union's ceiling, after years of overspending by Berlusconi.

''I believe demonstrations are an integral part of democracy so I find nothing strange or particular about it,'' said Prodi on a visit to his home town of Bologna.

The opposition accuses Prodi and his allies of fomenting ''class hatred'' by imposing higher taxes on wealthier Italians and small businesses, while giving low earners some tax relief.

''I think this government is on the verge of collapse,'' said Rocco Santoro, a supporter of the right-wing National Alliance from southern Italy who brought along 10 donkeys to ridicule the government. ''Soon we'll be back in power.'' REUTERS PB VC2331