Violent clashes took place between police and demonstrators in front of the parliament in Athens on Sunday, during an anti-government protest following the rail disaster in Greece that left 57 dead.
Protesters set fire to rubbish bins and threw Molotov cocktails at security officers, while police responded with tear gas and stun grenades in the center of the Greek capital, AFP news agency reported.
In a matter of minutes, the Greek police dispersed about 12,000 protesters in Syntagma Square, where the protest took place to hold the Greek government responsible for Tuesday night’s train crash.
Thousands of people, who held placards with phrases such as “Down with murderous governments,” responded to calls from students, railway workers and public administration to demonstrate today, at a time when a strike is underway affecting trains and the subway.
Hundreds of black balloons were blown up in front of parliament in memory of the victims of the head-on collision between a passenger train traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki in the north and a freight train on Tuesday night.
Earlier, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized to the families of the victims in a solemn statement.
The station master from Larissa, the town closest to the crash site, has claimed responsibility for the disaster.
Represented by the media as inexperienced and only recently in office, the 59-year-old man is due today to be heard by Greek justice and charged with murder.
However, the state of degradation of the railway network, problems in the signaling system and railway safety were mentioned as existing problems.
Union representatives had warned in recent weeks about the various shortcomings in the network and the lack of workers.
Not far from the protests, the Greek prime minister today took part in a religious service at Athens Orthodox Cathedral, where churches across the country plan to pay tribute to the victims of the accident.
On Friday, demonstrators protested and called for killers outside the headquarters of the Hellenic Train railway company in Athens, writing the word in red letters on the facade of the building.
Source: DN
