Massive strikes and rallies across Greece: Thousands of people are expected to show their anger again on Wednesday, a week after the train crash that killed 57 and sparked a wave of outrage.
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Greece was to come to a near halt with a call to halt work across much of the public and private sectors.
There is no sea connection between the mainland and the islands and the trains remain in the station for the eighth day in a row.
Public sector workers are also called on for a 24-hour strike, as are elementary school teachers, doctors, and bus and subway drivers.
Demonstrations are again expected across the country, including two in the capital.
In Athens and Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city, violent clashes broke out between police and demonstrators on Sunday on the sidelines of a rally with 12,000 people.
A slogan has been circulating in the processions, which have been marching for a week: “Call me when you arrive,” a reference to a mother’s message to her child killed in the accident.
Many of the victims were young people and students. In recent days, images of collapsed parents burying their child, often broadcast live by TV stations, have helped anger the country a little more.
“National Tragedy”
The outrage continues a week after the collision between a train connecting Athens and Thessaloniki with almost 350 passengers on board and a convoy of goods.
Without an alarm being raised, the two trains traveled several kilometers on the same track before colliding head-on at around 23:30 (21:30 GMT) on February 28 at Tempé, near the town of Larissa, 350 km to the north the capital.
Since what authorities have dubbed a “national tragedy,” Greece has been holding its leaders, led by conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to account.
Because on the day after the collision, serious deficiencies in the safety system and the ailing state rail network were pointed out.
The head of government, who faces parliamentary elections in the spring, is dejected after having assured a few hours after the disaster that it was a matter of “a tragic human error”.
However, railway unions in particular recalled with anger that long before the tragedy they had raised the alarm about the serious technical failures on this line without being heard.
The station manager Larissa, who admitted responsibility for the accident, was taken into custody.
However, some have accused the authorities of trying to frame a man with very little experience.
“It’s easy to blame the stationmaster,” protested Mariana Chronopoulou, an elementary school teacher, during the Sunday demonstration.
Planing blows to public services
“We are very angry with this government because we also see the state the public sector is being left in,” she said.
Contrite, the prime minister on Sunday asked forgiveness from the families of the victims, a mea culpa that many saw as very late.
He also asked for help from the European Union, which is due to send experts from the European Railway Agency (ERA) to Athens this week.
The anger is also directed against the railway company Hellenic Train.
Amid cries of “murderers,” demonstrators vented their anger outside the company’s headquarters on Friday and wrote the word on the building in Athens.
The operator responsible for passenger and freight transport, Hellenic Train, responded to the allegations by recalling that the responsibility for maintaining the network lies with the Greek joint-stock company OSE.
Many Greeks are also expressing resentment at what they see as a drop in public services since austerity plans imposed by Greece’s creditors are designed to pull the country out of the doldrums.
Public health, education, many sectors have taken a beating.