**Tens of thousands of people have staged a rally in Rome in support of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, ahead of regional elections this month.**Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL) was blocked from the key Rome vote after failing to register on time.
A string of sex and corruption scandals have weighed heavily on Mr Berlusconi in the past 12 months.
The latest is accusations that he was trying to block political talk shows on television critical of his government.
After the alleged interference was picked up using phone taps, prosecutors last week said they would investigate him for abuse of power.
He also faces two trials, for tax fraud and bribery. Mr Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.
Addressing the crowd from a stage emblazoned with the party’s new slogan - “Love conquers hatred and envy” - Mr Berlusconi launched a blistering attack on his political enemies.
He said left-leaning judges and centre-left politicians were out to get him in “a laughable investigation based on the tapping of my calls”.
He also decried what he said were dirty tricks to exclude his party from the election race, and said he wanted to preserve freedom and democracy for Italy.
Italy’s opposition denounced the rally.
“This is the only government in the world in which the head of the government rallies against magistrates,” Pierferdinando Casini, head of the Catholic UDC party, told the AFP news agency.
Rome police declined to offer an estimate for the crowd, who rallied a week after last Saturday’s anti-Berlusconi march in Rome.