Italy's largest opposition party said Friday it would stage a nationwide protest against the government this autumn, accusing Premier Silvio Berlusconi of being unable to distinguish between his own interests and those of the country at large.
The announcement by centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Walter Veltroni came after a series of government moves - including a trial freeze allegedly designed for the premier - which the opposition said made cooperation on reforms impossible.
''Silvio Berlusconi is incapable of distinguishing between private and public interests,'' Veltroni told the PD's national assembly.
He said that he was ''indignant but not surprised'' by the bill to put 'non-serious' trials on hold for a year - a move experts say would doom a trial in which the billionaire media magnate is accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills to hush up details of his business empire.
Magistrates claim the proposed law would halt about a thousand trials.
Veltroni added that the PD would be ''intransigent'' about new moves seen as undermining the magistrature and press freedom and any other laws allegedly framed for the premier.
''We will wage intransigent opposition against the return of institutional conflicts and tailor-made laws,'' he told the assembly, referring to Berlusconi's parliamentary battles against prosecutors he claims are persecuting him.
The opposition is particularly angry at the trial freeze and a crackdown on wire taps which critics say would jeopardise corruption probes and gag the press.
Veltroni blamed Berlusconi for sinking cooperation on much-needed reforms aimed at making government more efficient.
He said the government had ''broken the web of dialogue''.
He also claimed there was ''an Italian anomaly'' because Berlusconi's command of the centre right was ''a symptom of the weakness of the political system''.
But the opposition would not fall into the trap of ''anti-Berluscon-ism'' which had been rejected by voters, most recently in the centre right's landslide April election win, he said.
The ''great'' autumn demo, involving ''a large part of Italians,'' would be the culmination of a series of protest events, Veltroni said.
The PD would be protesting not only against so-called 'save-premier' laws but also against its economic policies, including an alleged failure to help low-income earners, he said.
