A nationwide strike in Italy hit public transport as well as other public services on Friday causing inconvenience throughout the country.

In the first nationwide protest against Prime Minister Mario Monti's government, organized by the transport sector's most representative trade unions, thousands of workers opposed austerity policies that they said impact unfairly on the lives of common citizens.

Trains, subways and buses stopped their services for hours throughout Italy, while several flights were cancelled in main airports, and some public offices remained closed, according to local media.

As part of the strike, in Rome workers from all over the country marched across the capital center, with placards reading "Monti's government go away, we will not pay the debt".

According to organizers, the austerity reforms announced by the cabinet of technocrats to drive Italy out of its debt-driven crisis protect the interests of banks and financial investors, dropping the crisis in honest workers' lap.

The protest, the unions said in a joint statement, was "against Monti's government, which reduces the purchasing power of wages through increasing taxes .. affects the whole pension system, and privatizes public services and goods."

In the past days, truckers blocked roads and taxi drivers took the streets protesting against fuel tax rises that they say have reached unsustainable records, while other groups such as pharmacists and lawyers have announced strikes in the next weeks in opposition to Monti's reforms.

According to a report by the national institute for statistics Istat released on Thursday, the annual growth of hourly wages in 2011 hit the lowest level since 1999, with the gap between wages and inflation reaching the 1.9-percent record in December, the widest since 1995.