Violent clashes broke out this Sunday between police and demonstrators in front of the Athens Parliament, during an anti-government protest after the rail disaster in Greece that left 57 dead.
Protesters set garbage cans on fire and hurled ‘Molotov cocktails’ at security officers, while police responded with tear gas and stun grenades in the center of the Greek capital, according to the AFP news agency.
Within minutes, Greek police dispersed some 12,000 protesters in Syntagma Square, where the protest to hold the Greek government accountable for Tuesday night’s train accident took place.
Thousands of people, who carried banners with phrases such as “Down with murderous governments”, responded to the calls of students, railway workers and public administration to demonstrate today, at a time when a strike that affects trains and the subway is taking place.
In front of the parliament, hundreds of black balloons were launched into the sky 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 stationmaster of Larissa, the closest town to the crash site, claimed responsibility for the disaster.
Presented by the media as inexperienced and with little time in office, the 59-year-old man must be heard by the Greek justice and could be charged with murder.
However, the state of degradation of the railway network, problems in the signaling system and safety on the railways were pointed out as existing problems.
Union representatives had been alerting in recent weeks about the various deficiencies in the network and the lack of employees.
Not far from the protests, the Greek prime minister took part in a religious service in the Orthodox cathedral of Athens today, when churches across the country are scheduled to pay tribute to the victims of the accident.
On Friday, protesters protested and chanted calling for the killers in front of the Hellenic Train railway company’s headquarters in Athens, writing the word in red letters on the building’s facade.
Source: TSF
