After 17 years in Italian politics and numerous scandals, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has resigned. As he left, thousands of protesters in central Rome jeered his exit.

Berlusconi had promised to resign after a package of measures was passed in Rome to meet the demands of the eurozone countries to put the country’s finances back in order. Earlier in the week, Berlusconi lost his majority in parliament.

Clown
According to Reuters press agency, President Giorgio Napolitano accepted Berlusconi's resignation after a meeting in the presidential palace. Former European Commissioner Mario Monti is expected to be given the task of trying to form a new cabinet of technocrats to face a widening financial crisis which has sent Italy's debt costs to unmanageable levels. The next election is not due until 2013, giving the new cabinet 18 months to pass draconic economic reforms.

More than a thousand demonstrators waving banners mocking Berlusconi flocked to the president's residence at the Quirinale Palace and shouted "clown, clown, clown" as the motorcade carrying the billionaire media entrepreneur who has been Italy's longest serving prime minister entered.
The crowd grew so unruly that Berlusconi was forced to leave secretly via a side entrance and return to his private residence.

Disaster
Cheers broke out when they heard that Berlusconi had resigned and the square broke out into a party atmosphere. They sang, danced and some broke open bottles of champagne.
Demonstrators chanting "resign, resign, resign" also gathered outside the prime minister's office and parliament, heckling ministers as they walked between the two buildings.

A small group of pro-Berlusconi demonstrators gathered outside his residence but they were outnumbered by opponents.

Italy, the eurozone's third largest economy, came close to disaster this week when yields on 10-year bonds soared over 7.6 percent, the kind of level which forced Ireland, Portugal and Greece to seek an international bailout.

(nc/imm)