Rioting protesters clash with police as Berlusconi hangs on

Police had to use tear gas to stop angry demonstrators from torching cars and smashing windows. Inside parliament's lower house, tensions boiled over as MPs pushed and shoved each other, forcing a brief suspension in the voting.

Ultimately, Mr Berlusconi survived the lower house's no-confidence motion by just three votes. He had secured a more comfortable victory in a confidence vote at the Senate earlier in the day.

But he was left with a razor-thin majority that will make it hard for him to govern effectively.

The outcome of the highly uncertain votes attested to Mr Berlusconi's uncanny ability to survive, even when nearly all indications pointed to a government collapse.

He was weakened from a year dominated by sex scandals, corruption charges and a break-up with a close ally that had put into question whether he could still muster a parliamentary majority.

But the 74-year-old battled back, swaying a few crucial MPs to change their minds and vote in his favour at the last minute. He argued that stability trumped political infighting in an economic crisis.

The outcome marked a victory for Mr Berlusconi over the onetime ally who has become his most bitter rival, Gianfranco Fini. By contrast, it dealt a blow to Mr Fini's ambitions to replace Mr Berlusconi in the short term.

Mr Fini acknowledged defeat, saying the outcome was made more painful by the defections of three of his MPs. He said future weeks would show if Mr Berlusconi would be able to turn his "numerical victory" into political capital. Some called for Mr Fini's resignation.

Three pregnant women whose presence had been in doubt until the last minute showed up and were among the first to cast their votes, all against Mr Berlusconi.