Magistrates throughout Italy are protesting Premier Silvio Berlusconi's latest attack against the judiciary.
Berlusconi said earlier this week that "communist prosecutors and communist judges in Milan" are persecuting him for a political vendetta. Berlusconi has a history of legal woes stemming from his business interests in Milan before he entered politics in the mid-1990s.
The association of Italy's magistrates has denounced Berlusconi's comments as "groundless and ridiculous." It announced assemblies on Thursday in courtrooms across Italy and said it is considering a strike.
Milan prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said if magistrates are "red" it is for the blood they have spilled defending the law and Italy's constitution.
