Train collision in Greece: violent clashes between police and protesters in Athens
The rally to protest against the state of the railway network and to denounce the collision which occurred between two trains a few days ago turned into a confrontation on Sunday in Athens, Greece.
Violent clashes broke out on Sunday between police and demonstrators opposite the parliament in Athens during a protest rally after the train disaster in Greece, which killed 57 people on Tuesday evening, AFP noted.
Protesters set fire to trash cans and threw Molotov cocktails, while police responded with tear gas and stun grenades in the center of the Greek capital, AFP journalists have noted.
Within minutes, Syntagma Square, the large esplanade in front of parliament, emptied of 12,000 protesters, according to a new police count, who had gathered earlier to demand accountability to the Greek authorities after the head-on collision between two trains traveling on the same track. appeal of students, railway workers and public sector employees at a time when trains and the metro are on strike in the country.
Opposite the parliament, they released hundreds of balloons into the sky in memory of the victims of the head-on collision between a passenger train from Athens to Thessaloniki in the north and a freight convoy on Tuesday evening.
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Protesters held balloons that read “57 death tickets” in reference to the 57 people who died in the crash of trains.
We feel immense rage, explained Michalis Hasiotis, president of the union of chartered accountants who joined the procession.
“The The greed and the lack of measures taken to protect passengers led to the worst rail tragedy in our country.
— Michalis Hasiotis, President of the Chartered Accountants Union
Previously, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had apologized to the families of the victims in a solemn declaration as Greece, turned upside down by this tragedy, is also seized with anger at the negligence and shortcomings in the railways revealed during this accident.
The dilapidated state of the railway network as well as various problems in the signaling and safety system on the railway tracks have been singled out as the station manager of Larissa, the city closest to the accident, admitted responsibility.
Nothing is going right in this country, hospitals are dying, schools are closing, forests are burning… Who are they kidding? got carried away in the procession Nikos Tsikalakis president of a railway union.
A funeral procession took place on Saturday. (File photo)
Not far from the demonstration, the Prime Minister took part in a religious service in the Orthodox cathedral of Athens while all the churches of the country planned to pay tribute to the victims of what has been described by authorities as a national tragedy.
Angry protesters on Friday had chanted “murderers” outside the railway company's headquarters of Hellenic Train, in the capital, and writes this word in red letters on the facade of the building.
