Riot police fired volleys of tear gasoline, stun grenades and water cannons at protesters hurling gasoline bombs and smashed-up paving stones in Athens on Friday (February 28, 2025). The huge demonstration marked the second anniversary of Greece’s worst rail catastrophe that has grow to be an emblem of institutional failure.
Hundreds of 1000’s of individuals from all walks of life took to the streets in cities throughout the nation as a part of a normal strike referred to as to demand justice for the 57 individuals killed on February 28, 2023, when a passenger practice collided head-on with a freight practice.
Among the biggest demonstrations since Greece’s debt disaster a decade in the past, Friday’s protests have been fueled by public resentment in opposition to the conservative authorities’s perceived lack of accountability in the wake of the catastrophe, and the sluggish tempo of the investigation.
Violence additionally broke out on the fringes of a protest in the northern metropolis of Thessaloniki, the place dozens of hooded protesters broke away from the primary rally to conflict with riot police.
Riot police stand guard throughout clashes with demonstrators, at a protest close to the Greek parliament, marking the second anniversary of the nation’s worst railway catastrophe, whereas an investigation continues, in Athens, Greece, February 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Clashes close to Parliament
In Athens, repeated rounds of clashes close to Parliament left at least 20 individuals requiring medical consideration, authorities stated. Police stated 120 individuals have been detained, with 27 of them arrested, whereas one other 35 individuals have been detained in Thessaloniki. Confrontations spilled over into close by streets, with teams of hooded protesters getting into an archaeological web site close to the traditional Roman monument of Hadrian’s Arch and pelting riot police with rocks.
Unions referred to as a normal strike in help of the mass mobilization led by the victims’ family. Critics say that politicians ought to be held accountable for failures that led as much as the collision, however up to now solely rail officers have been charged with any crimes.
The catastrophe in Tempe — the worst railway accident in Greece’s historical past — left dozens injured and uncovered deficiencies in transportation infrastructure.
“The full truth must come to light, and those responsible, no matter how high their position, must be held accountable,” stated Yannis Panagopoulos, president of the General Confederation of Greek Workers, the nation’s largest labor union, which has backed Friday’s strike.
People maintain placards throughout an illustration marking the second anniversary of the Greece’s worst railway catastrophe, whereas an investigation continues, in Nicosia, Cyprus, February 28, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
Flights and rail companies have been canceled, ferries halted and public transportation was severely disrupted. Businesses and public companies have additionally been affected, with many shops in Athens and different cities closed, leaving messages of solidarity for the victims’ households in entrance home windows.
Demonstrations have been happening in greater than 300 cities and cities in Greece and overseas. Protesters in Athens, chanting “You count profits. We count lives,” carried black balloons and anti-government banners and blared aerosol horns.
Longstanding calls for for safer working situations
Athens municipal employee Costas Reintzopoulos stated the rail crash had highlighted longstanding calls for for safer working situations. Eleven of those that died in the Tempe catastrophe have been railway staff.
“Every day, there is a demand to know the truth about what happened, and every day there is demand to for better safety measures in the workplace. That is a key reason why this remains relevant,” he stated. “We don’t want to mourn more dead people, who leave in the morning to go to work and we don’t know if they’ll come back.”
Memorial companies have been held at Orthodox church buildings in Athens for the victims, who included many college college students coming back from an extended weekend.
Their households had urged protesters to stay peaceable and hold the main target on remembrance moderately than politics.
Yet the demonstrations have created a politically precarious second for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ authorities.
His conservatives keep a powerful lead in the polls, however public dissatisfaction over the Tempe catastrophe has led to surging help for anti-establishment events on each the left and proper. Opposition leaders, who’re struggling to realize traction, are weighing whether or not to place ahead a censure movement.
Mitsotakis promised to proceed work to enhance rail security, including: “Every Greek participates in this mourning, united under the common demand for truth.”
The mountainous nation is essentially road-reliant and the Greek railway system is centered round a single route between Athens and Thessaloniki, a proven fact that made the collision more durable for a lot of to grasp.
A protracted-awaited report from the investigation into the crash, launched Thursday, blamed human error, outdated infrastructure and main systemic failures for the head-on collision.
The aftermath was marked by scenes of chaos, with surviving passengers describing tumbling carriages, fires and smashed home windows as they scrambled to flee.
It was adopted by the grotesque job of sufferer restoration and identification as many our bodies have been severely burned or dismembered. Funerals have been held throughout quite a few communities all through Greece, many streamed or broadcast reside, turning personal grief right into a shared nationwide expertise.
Hours after the collision, Maria Krystianou rushed to the scene of the tragedy to seek for her lacking daughter, 21-year-old Maria-Thomai, as the practice vehicles nonetheless smoldered.
After a two-day wait, Maria-Thomai’s loss of life was lastly confirmed with a DNA match.
Krystianou, a 52-year-old pediatrician, has since grow to be a number one determine in the marketing campaign to carry politicians to account for the crash. This week she publicly thanked unions and associations that joined the protests, together with medical doctors at public hospitals, and legal professionals and judges who will maintain a minute’s silence in courts Friday.
“For those of us who had our children and loved ones on that train, a part of us remains with them and will never return. The unrelenting pain and the unimaginable reality are with us forever,” Krystianou told a crowd outside parliament. Pointing to the protesters, she added: “This is for you, my girl, and for those of us who never made it.”
Published – March 01, 2025 04:37 pm IST
