Supporters of a United Italy Throng Rallies in 2 Major Cities

MILAN, Italy —  Hundreds of thousands of people rallied Saturday in Milan and Venice to show their opposition to northern Italy’s flamboyant movement to secede from the south.

Italy’s three main trade union groups, organizers of the rallies, said that up to 1 million people were at the Milan event while up to 80,000 crowded Venice’s central Piazza San Marco. Police did not have an immediate figure.

Speakers at the rallies took turns denouncing secessionist leader Umberto Bossi and his Northern League as dangers to tough reforms and to possible breakthrough agreements between the government and unions aimed at qualifying the country for European Union monetary union.

“Secession is a real danger,” Sergio Cofferati, head of the General Confederation of Italian Labor, told the crowd in Milan’s main square.

Few, however, expect Bossi’s separatist drive to succeed, although the Northern League has a large following in Italy’s wealthy north, where many people feel they are being unfairly taxed to support a corrupt and inefficient south and a cumbersome central government.

Bossi, who was reported to be spending the day with his family, told the AGI news agency that he wasn’t worried by the demonstrations. He also claimed that the unions had paid people to attend.

“The demonstrations don’t change anything,” he said, vowing to push ahead with his secessionist plans.

Earlier this month, the Northern League named a “provisional government” for Bossi’s hoped-for country of “Padania,” and the party plans to hold “elections” for a parliament next month.

In Venice, which Bossi claims as the “capital” of “Padania,” Mayor Massimo Cacciari said Saturday: “I’ve never seen such a massive demonstration.”

Between speeches by political and union leaders, the crowds were entertained by live musicians and dancers. In Milan, veteran ballerina Carla Fracci performed in a shawl that was red, white and green--the colors of Italy’s national flag.