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Thousands of protesters in Venice in front of the regional government building on Saturday independence from Italy. The separatists for an immediate referendum the region’s independence from Rome. The pro-independence activists have also referred their to the European Commission to start the legal process for self-rule. A survey taken in September that support from local residents for autonomy is very high, 80 per cent favouring it. The new Venetian state be known as the "Repubblica Veneta” and would be home to five million people. Separatist leader Lodovico Pizzati told reporters: “It will be the -richest country in Europe.”

Venice was an independent republic for a thousand years before it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. There have been calls for a away from Rome since the 1970s, but Italy’s current economic downturn and similar calls for independence from Catalonia in Spain added momentum to the Venetian . Italy's economic crisis has caused a lot of anger the Italian government. Mr Pizzati said: "The economic situation here is really , with the recession small and medium-sized businesses. In addition, of the 70 billion euros we pay in taxes to Rome, we only get about 50 billion euros….We are losing on 20 billion euros a year." Pizzati said that was “”.