The Prime Minister promised to secure the whole rail network after the accident that killed 57 people
12,000 protesters gathered in front of the Greek parliament in Athens on Sunday clashed heavily with the police. Mass discontent in the country continues for several days after the tragic accident between a freight and passenger train near Larissa, in which at least 57 people died. Among the victims were mostly schoolchildren and students.
Demonstrators set trash cans on fire and threw gasoline bombs, and law enforcement responded with tear gas and stun grenades, clearing the central Syntagma Square of protesters within minutes.
Before clashes broke out, thousands of Greeks, who have been gathering for days to express their displeasure at the country’s neglected rail transport situation for years, released hundreds of black balloons into the sky in memory of the dead. Some also held banners reading: “Down with murderous governments.”
On Saturday evening, again in front of the parliament, over a thousand young people gathered to demand justice for what happened, lighting and releasing hundreds of lanterns into the sky. During the silent protest, the words “their profits – our dead” were written with candles. The railway workers also got involved, stopping the trains for another 48 hours while the relatives buried their charred loved ones.
“Youth in the country seething with sorrow anger and outrage
after the tragedy. This is a premeditated crime and the culprits are clear – the state, the company that calculates human life with money and costs,” said one of the protesters.
In all churches in Greece, a mass was celebrated on Sunday to commemorate the victims of the disaster. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, was in Istanbul, where the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated a mass in memory of both those who died in the disaster and the victims of the earthquake in Turkey.
Against this background, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis publicly asked for forgiveness from the relatives of those who died in the worst railway accident in the country’s history. “Two trains traveling in different directions cannot run on the same line without anyone noticing,” he emphasized on Facebook. The prime minister said he wanted to talk about the tragedy without clichés. “We cannot, do not want and should not hide behind human error.” Mitsotakis assured that the government would quickly investigate the tragedy and pledged to seek help from the European Commission and friendly countries to assist in securing the entire railway system. In addition, the prime minister promised to request financial support for the purchase of new train sets. He pointed out that the relevant minister will take immediate measures to improve the safety of the railways until the completion of the electronic management system.
The 59-year-old head of the station in Larissa is one of the central figures of the indescribable tragedy. On Sunday, he appeared at the prosecutor’s office to present his apologies. His mental state is bad, reported in “Proto Tema”.
“I carry 35 coffins on your back…”,
the man shouted during his arrest. Criminal charges have been brought against him for violating the safety of transport, as well as for serial murder and causing serious bodily harm by negligence.
The tragedy happened after on the night of February 28, a passenger and freight train were moving in opposite directions between Thessaloniki and Athens at about 100 km/h. They end up on a rut. A heavy crash and explosion follows.
The first four cars of the passenger train derailed and two caught fire and were almost completely destroyed. Dozens of passengers, among them mainly students, died, and two Bulgarians were injured. The tragic incident was attributed to human error after investigators found evidence on Thursday. A recording shows that the driver of the derailed passenger train was ordered to ignore a red light that he had reported.
However, many in Greece see the crash as an accident waiting to happen, with the rail workers’ union blaming successive governments’ “disrespect” for Greek railways for leading to this “tragic outcome”.
