Thousands of Italian women took to the streets in downtown Rome and 230 other cities on Sunday demanding the resignation of Premier Silvio Berlusconi and respect for female dignity.
Groups of activists also held similar rallies in 50 cities outside Italy, including Tokyo, Adnkronos news agency said.
The rally was sparked by a sex scandal around Berlusconi, 74, who has been accused of paying a Moroccan-born nightclub dancer, known as Ruby, for sex with her at a time when she was 17, which is illegal in Italy.
Berlusconi, who refused to name the woman he said he has been dating since the breakdown of his marriage, told his supporters that the very thought he could ever pay for having sex sounded "absurd" to him.
Italian women believe the Ruby case offends their dignity.
The demonstrators gathered at Rome's Piazza del Popolo chanting slogans: "If not now, then when?" "We want a country that respects all women," they said.
ROME, February 13 (RIA Novosti)
