(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />An Italian man climbed onto the huge dome of St Peter's Basilica on Tuesday (October 2) to stage a protest against Prime Minister Mario Monti and the European Union.<br/> <br />Video footage showed the man jumping over railings near the top of the 137-metre-high dome in the afternoon, shocking visitors on a normal tour. He then tied a cord to the railings and abseiled down to a ledge over a window in the cupola.<br/> <br />Tottering precariously on the ledge, he unveiled a banner reading: "Help! Enough Monti, Enough Europe! Enough Multinationals!".<br/> <br />He remained on the dome into Tuesday night, flashing a strobe light.<br/> <br />The man is a beach worker, angry about a European Union directive and Italian government plan that will see licences to operate patches of seafront auctioned off transparently from 2016, his colleague Alex Giuzio told Reuters.<br/> <br />Beach workers say the plan will favour multinational companies over smaller local businesses.
