Nurses attack Silvio Berlusconi over striptease

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was attacked by nurses and police after it emerged that women were encouraged to dress in their uniforms for "lesbian stripper acts" at his parties.

The national nursing union said: "Using our uniforms at erotic parties hosted by the premier is obscene and seriously offends us as women and nurses.

"A nurse's uniform is a symbol of our competence and duty to patients. It insults our dignity to be ridiculed like this."

The police union said: "This strikes at the professionalism of female officers. The whole force feels ridiculed."

The revelations emerged from court documents in an inquiry into allegations against Mr Berlusconi, 74, of extortion and paying under-age prostitutes for sex.

A belly dancer known as "Ruby the Heartbreaker" - just 17 when she attended one of his parties - told a friend she had sex with the prime minister.

But last night Karima El Mahroug, now 18, appeared on a TV channel owned by Mr Berlusconi and insisted: "He didn't lay one finger on me."

She previously told police he gave her a diamond necklace, 6,000 and an Audi sports car after attending his parties. Prosecutors want him tried for corruption.