* Opposition wants interior minister to address parliament
* Damage to shops, infrastructure at least 1 million euros
* City mayor cites moral damage, paper asks "Why Rome?" (Recasts with reaction from Berlusconi allies)
By Philip Pullella
ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Allies of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi were swift to blame left-wing sympathisers on Sunday for riots in Rome in which police fired teargas at masked protesters, in an apparent attempt to exploit the lawlessness to bolster their fragile coalition.
Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters were joining a global "day of rage" against the elites blamed for economic downturn on Saturday when the rampaging violence, some of the worst seen in the Italian capital for years, erupted.
Ignazio La Russa, defence minister in Berlusconi's centre-right government, suggested the violence was at least in part attributable to a polemical political tone he said was employed by the left and whereby "everything is justifiable as long as we get rid of Berlusconi, the 'evil of Italy'".
La Russa, an unflagging supporter of Berlusconi, said those who use violence "take advantage of these kinds of positions".
Another senior member of Berlusconi's coalition, Senator Maurizio Gasparri, spoke of "dangerous proximity of some sectors of the left with the protagonists of the violence in Rome".
Centre-left politicians have dismissed this and they too condemned the violence.
Berlusconi survived a vote of confidence he was forced to call on Friday after his divided and undisciplined coalition failed to pass a routine budget provision but he was left weakened.
"I think there will be a lot on innuendo against the left after what happened. We have already seen some and we will see much more," said James Walston, political science professor at the American University of Rome.
Discontent is smouldering in Italy over high unemployment, political paralysis and 60 billion euros (${esc.dollar}83 billion) of austerity measures that have raised taxes and the cost of health care.
Berlusconi said those responsible must be identified and punished, and, in an apparent reference to the left, said: "They must be condemned by everyone without reservation."
Meanwhile, as the clean up began on Sunday, Romans asked why their city was the only one among the many global demonstrations that turned violent.
"Yesterday we once again showed the world the anomaly of Italy and today we once again have to feel shame," La Stampa newspaper said in a front-page editorial.
"Why did it happen only here?"
MATERIAL AND MORAL DAMAGE
Workmen swept up broken glass, sandblasted graffiti off church walls, repaired broken statues, replaced shattered bank windows and ATM machines and towed away the burnt-out shells of cars.
Apart from the material damage, estimated by merchants' groups at more than 1 million euros, Mayor Gianni Alemanno said the capital would long suffer from the "moral damage" and shock caused by the rampage and the bad publicity around the world.
Many asked why police did not intervene earlier to stop the hard core protesters, who call themselves "Black Bloc", from arriving in Rome, moving around freely and infiltrating the demonstration in the first place.
The "Black Bloc" members approached the demonstration already wearing masks, hoods or motorcycle helmets and brandishing sticks, pipes and other objects.
Massimo Donadi, a legislator of the opposition Italy of Values party, called on the interior minister to address parliament and explain why the situation got out of hand and why more preventive action had not been taken.
"These professionals of violence ... did not arrive from Mars," Donadi said. "We want the interior minister to tell us how it happened."
Mayor Alemanno called for police to "strike out at the violent factions before they can deploy".
Many Italians also asked why police managed to arrest only 12 of the hundreds of violent demonstrators who used sticks, rock, bottles and even fire extinguishers in running battles with police in wide open piazzas as well as narrow streets.
On Sunday a small group of peaceful protesters re-deployed to a square in front of a church near where some of the violence took place to continue a sit-in.
"We are the real indignant ones," one said. "They stole our day".
(Editing by Alison Williams)
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