Thousands cheer in Rome as curtain falls on Berlusconi

ROME — Car honking and dancing in the streets greeted the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister in Rome on Saturday, with thousands waving Italian flags and holding up "Bye Bye Silvio" signs. "Buffoon! Buffoon!" the crowd shouted as the scandal-tainted Berlusconi arrived at the Italian president's residence to officially submit his resignation, with some shouting: "Mafioso!" "Piece of shit!" and "Prison!" After the announcement he was stepping down, demonstrators uncorked champagne bottles and hugged each other in the square in front of President Giorgio Napolitano's home, cheering: "Long live Italy!" and "Finally!" An impromptu orchestra played Handel's Messiah as a choir sang "Hallelujah!" "Ciao! And above all don't come back!" shouted one man, while another declared: "We are very, very happy!" "We're all delighted. We've had enough of this person who always acted in his own interests. Italy is headed for a better future," said 50-year-old Tommaso Romito, muffled up in a white scarf on a cold night in Rome. The 75-year-old Berlusconi waved to the crowd despite the jeers and shouts of "Buffoon!" after presiding at his last cabinet meeting. There were some activists who came out to show support and chanted: "Silvio! Silvio!" "This is going to be like our own little bunga bunga," said Gianfranco Mascia, the leader of a major anti-Berlusconi movement -- referring to the erotic dances that have landed the ageing Latin lover in trouble. "It's been 17 years of anti-culture," said Raffaele Di Nitto, a 21-year-old law student, referring to the time that the billionaire tycoon has dominated Italian politics since founding a political party in the early 1990s. "He raped the constitution in a shameless fashion," Di Nitto said, speaking outside Berlusconi's office as motorbikes drove past waving Italian flags. Francesca Rossi, a 34-year-old teacher, was in a more sombre mood. "We are in limbo. Everything is in question. Our hopes have been shattered. The people have touched rock bottom," Rossi said. Architect Floriana Calise, 37, agreed about the effects that Berlusconi -- who has ruled Italy for 10 of the past 17 years -- has had on the country. "We're here to see it with our own eyes," she said. "The country is destroyed, especially in a moral sense. There's not much to celebrate." There were tensions too after a group of neo-fascist activists joined the crowd and began chanting slogans against former European Union commissioner Mario Monti, widely tipped as Berlusconi's replacement. "Italy is not for sale!" some of them shouted. Smaller groups in the crowd voiced their support for Berlusconi. "We feel like orphans," said Maria Teresa Borghelli, a 54-year-old housewife. "We're living this moment with pain and with anger. Democracy has been trampled. We're sure this is not the end for Berlusconi. "I don't think Monti is a magician and Berlusconi did a lot," she added. Massimo della Seta, a 25-year-old factory worker, said: "Berlusconi is unique, unforgettable, no-one can follow him." — AFP