Thousands of Greeks protested yesterday to demand justice for at least 57 people killed in the country’s worst rail disaster, with protesters condemning the tragedy as “a crime”.
Some demonstrations turned violent as public anger increased over the role that government mismanagement played in the tragedy.
The passenger train ran for several kilometres on the same track as an incoming freight train before the crash, reportedly after the station master in Larissa, central Greece, failed to reroute one of the trains.
It was carrying many students returning from a holiday weekend.
Nine young people studying at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University among the dead and 26 others injured.
“What happened was not an accident, it was a crime,” said student Sofia, 23, who did not wish to give her full name. “We can’t watch all this happen and remain indifferent.”
The disaster has sparked widespread criticism of government failures in the rail network.
Protesters held another series of demonstrations yesterday in the capital Athens and several major cities across Greece.
In Thessaloniki – Greece’s second largest city – police said a protest by about 2,000 people turned violent on Thursday, with demonstrators throwing stones and petrol bombs.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is seeking re-election this spring, has blamed the disaster on “tragic human error”.
Protests pointing the finger at government mismanagement continued yesterday.
Thousands gathered outside the Athens headquarters of operators Hellenic Train – which took over network operations in 2017 – to protest at decades of failure to improve rail network safety, despite close calls in past years.
A student of Aristotle University paints a banner marked with red letters reading 'It was not an accident, your politics kills us', ahead of a silent demonstration in Thessaloniki, following the deadly train accident near the city of Larissa, where at least 57 people, most of them students, lost their lives.
