2K Italian women to Berlusconi: ‘Basta!’

The campaign, entitled "Basta!" or "Enough!", comes in the wake of in response to scandals surrounding his encounters with a teenage Moroccan girl. Signed by mothers and daughters, politicians, artists and others, the petition is a sign that the previously beloved Italian head of state is fast wearing out his welcome.

The campaign is being coordinated by the leftist L'Unita newspaper, close to Italy's center-left opposition. It was announced on Thursday, following criticism against the premier over the scandal, including from the Catholic Church.

In a fast-breaking sex-scandal case, prosecutors have placed Berlusconi and three associates under investigation. He allegedly paid for sex with the 17-year-old girl and used his office to cover it up. Prosecutors have also accused Berlusconi of having sex with several prostitutes during parties at his Milan estate.

But the 74-year-old premier has gone on a campaign to refute the accusations, taping two video messages and an audio monologue in recent days in which he denounced the prosecutors as politically driven.

The teen, nicknamed Ruby Rubacuori (Ruby ‘Heartstealer’), has begun a media blitz of her own to deny they ever had sex. On Wednesday she appeared on one of Berlusconi's television stations to refute reports, contained in wiretapped conversations published in Italian newspapers, that she asked Berlusconi for €5 million to keep quiet.

"I could do something exaggerated, but I could never arrive at a statement like that," she said. She admitted though that he gave her €7,000 to help her out financially but said he "never put a finger on me."

Italy's opposition leaders have demanded again that Berlusconi resign and there is talk among his allies of calling early elections. But Berlusconi has insisted he's not going anywhere and would gladly testify in court — as long as the judges were impartial.

On Thursday under a headline "The Women's Revolt," L'Unita published what it said was a partial list of 2,000 Italian women who had signed its campaign to tell Berlusconi they'd had enough of his antics.

"There are other women," the paper wrote in an editorial, listing the names of prominent union leaders, opposition politicians, actresses, journalists and citing ordinary Italian mothers and daughters. "There are women who don't consider it a victory to go into a powerful man's home and come out having earned what a normal (person) earns with seven months of work."

It is not the first time Berlusconi has run afoul of Italy’s women. A similar campaign launched last year was called "I'm not at your disposal" by left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper was sparked after Berlusconi insulted the looks of a middle-age, matronly opposition politician, Rosy Bindi, who shot back: "I'm not one of the women at your disposal."

Her retort struck a nerve in Italy, where nearly naked television showgirls are a celebrity class of their own and a staple of Berlusconi's TV empire. It sparked a backlash that garnered 100,000 signatories in less than a month.

While the Vatican has stayed largely silent on the current prostitution probe, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano republished without comment the text of a statement issued by the Italian president urging a "complete examination" of the allegations by the courts as soon as possible.

Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference has taken a harder, more direct line saying the scandal was "hurtful and upsetting" and had damaged Italy's international reputation.