Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Rome on Wednesday to protest against a controversial justice bill outside the Senate, the Italian upper house.

The protest was led by Nanni Moretti, a famous left-wing film director who won the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 with the film The Son's Room.

"Shame on you! Shame on you!" Mr Moretti shouted outside the Senate.

The Left has lost all semblance of credibility.... Their slogan is 'lie, lie, lie'

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

The bill would allow defendants to have their trial moved elsewhere should they have any "legitimate suspicion" of the judge's impartiality.

It is being rushed through the Senate ahead of a month-long summer break and is to be debated by the Senate on Thursday.

This decision was taken after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to heed calls to withdraw the bill.

The calls came from Piero Fassino, leader of the Democrats of the Left, the main opposition party.

"I lie, lie, lie... and Berlusconi steals, steals, steals!!!"

Instead, Mr Berlusconi answered by accusing the opposition:

"The left has lost all semblance of credibility, I have no words to describe the filth of what is happening. Their slogan is 'lie lie lie'."

To which Fassino answered that the centre-right's slogan was "fraud, fraud, fraud".

The Senate will therefore debate the bill without the Senate's Justice Commission completing its work on it, a procedure which the opposition has described as "a democratic coup".

Dozens of senators leaving the Senate building joined the protest, according to Rome daily La Repubblica.

The opposition argues that the bill is aimed at enabling Mr Berlusconi to have his trial for corruption moved from Milan.

Mr Berlusconi has often accused the Milan judges of having a left-wing bias.

Berlusconi is on trial for corruption in Milan

If the law comes into force, it would allow Mr Berlusconi to call for the trial to be moved and tried by a new judge.

If the trial were moved from Milan, it would have to start anew, and could result in an acquittal for the prime minister as the statute of limitations would mean the charges would expire.

In April, a United Nations report said Italian judges and prosecutors had "reasonable cause" to fear that leading politicians were threatening their independence.

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