Supporters of Silvio Berlusconi rally to press for pardon Supporters of Silvio Berlusconi converged in Rome on Sunday for a rally in support of the former centre-right prime minister as the fate of Italy's coalition government hung in the balance following his conviction for tax fraud last week. But after a weekend of rising political tensions - when a senior official of his People of Liberty party triggered a furore by warning of "a new form of civil war" if Mr Berlusconi is banned from politics -- signs were emerging that the centre-right leader wanted to avert an immediate crisis. Original plans were for the rally to be held in a Rome square followed by a march to the presidential palace to press Giorgio Napolitano, head of state, to grant a pardon. But the march was cancelled and the venue for the evening demonstration changed to the street outside Mr Berlusconi's residence. His party's five ministers in Enrico Letta's grand coalition government said they would not attend, except for Angelino Alfano in his capacity as party secretary. Mr Berlusconi, dressed in black, gave a short, resolute but unusually joke-free speech declaring his innocence and thanking the crowd of some 2,000 for their support. I am alive. I am not giving up," he said, without dispelling the impression that he is a politician entering the last chapter of his 20 years as centre-right leader. The centre-right has raised the pressure on Italy's head of state to grant Mr Berlusconi a pardon following his definitive conviction for tax fraud upheld last Thursday by the supreme court. A four-year jail sentence is to be shortened to one year in line with a 2006 amnesty aimed at reducing Italy's overcrowded prisons and this is likely to be commuted to house arrest, possibly starting from mid-October. Constitutional experts say Mr Napolitano is unlikely to issue a pardon, and Mr Berlusconi's loyalists recognise that political pressure might only backfire. Of more immediate concern to the billionaire media mogul are moves in the senate to strip him of his seat and enforce an anti-corruption law passed by Mario Monti's previous government in 2012 that bans certain convicted criminals from running for election. A committee is expected to start proceedings on Wednesday although a vote of the full senate would not arrive until September at the earliest. Mr Berlusconi's party says the law cannot be imposed retroactively. Senator Sandro Bondi, a senior People of Liberty official, on Sunday reiterated that excluding Mr Berlusconi from politics would lead to "the risk of a new form of civil war." Mr Napolitano criticised the senator's "irresponsible words." Although the risk of snap elections as early as October appears to be receding, Mr Letta's three-month-old government has been further weakened by the crisis and will come under even greater strain as it tries to find a middle way between Mr Berlusconi's demands for tax cuts and the need to keep the budget deficit under control. Mr Letta's centre-left Democratic party also faces a protracted power struggle ahead of a year-end congress, with growing calls for him to cut ties with his coalition partner.