During ongoing anti-government demonstrations, protesters and police clashed in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens.
Police and a group of demonstrators clashed outside the Greek Parliament in Athens on the fringes of a protest by thousands of students and railway workers against Greece’s deadliest train crash in living memory.
A small group of protesters hurled petrol bombs at police and set garbage cans on fire on Sunday.
The police responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades and cleared Syntagma Square of the protesters within minutes. The demonstrators then dispersed to the surrounding streets.
Police said 12,000 people had gathered on the grand esplanade in front of Parliament to demand accountability for Tuesday’s head-on collision near downtown Larissa, which sparked widespread outrage.
At least 57 people were killed and dozens injured when a passenger train with more than 350 people on board collided with a freight train on the same track in central Greece.
After nationwide protests over the past three days, around 10,000 students, railway workers and groups affiliated with left-wing parties gathered in Athens’ Syntagma Square to express their sympathy for the lives lost and to demand better safety standards on the rail network.
“This crime will not be forgotten,” protesters chanted as they released black balloons into the sky. A poster read: “Your policy is costing lives.”
The train that traveled from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki was packed with university students returning after a long holiday weekend. The disaster has prompted an outburst of anger as well as a sharp focus on safety standards.
Railway workers, who also lost colleagues in the accident, have taken turns on strikes since Wednesday to denounce cost-cutting and underinvestment in rail infrastructure, a legacy of Greece’s debilitating debt crisis of 2010-2018.
PM promises justice
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government blames human error for the crash. However, Mitsotakis said on Sunday that human error should not detract from responsibility for a long-suffering rail network.
“As Prime Minister, I owe everyone, but especially the families of the victims, an apology,” he wrote on Facebook. “The judiciary will very quickly investigate the tragedy and establish liability.”
A station master in the nearby town of Larissa, who was on duty at the time of the crash, was charged this week with endangering his life and disrupting public transport.
The station manager, who cannot be named under Greek law, appeared before a judge on Sunday after his lawyer asked on Saturday for additional time to respond to the charges following new information on the case. These procedures were still ongoing.
Railway workers’ unions say safety systems across the rail network have been deficient for years because a remote monitoring and signaling system was not delivered on time. They have asked the government to come up with a timeline for implementing safety protocols.
Mitsotakis said on Sunday that if there had been a remote system throughout the rail network, “in practice it would have been impossible for the accident to happen”.
Greece will announce measures soon, he said, adding Athens will ask the European Commission and other countries for expertise on improving railway safety.
Pope Francis said Sunday his thoughts are with the victims of the accident. “I pray for the dead, I am close to the injured and their families, and may Our Lady comfort them,” he said in his weekly address to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Train and subway connections were paralyzed by strikes.