Thousands of people demonstrated across Greece on Friday, demanding justice for the at least 57 victims of the country’s worst rail disaster. Protesters in Athens and several major cities condemned the tragedy as “a crime,” and police clashed with demonstrators at a handful of rallies as public anger grew over alleged government mismanagement.
The crash occurred late Tuesday when a passenger train ran for several kilometres on the same track as an incoming freight train. According to reports, the station master in Larissa, central Greece, failed to reroute one of the trains. The passenger train was carrying many students returning from a holiday weekend; among the dead were at least nine young people from Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, and 26 others were injured. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is seeking re‑election this spring, blamed the disaster on “tragic human error,” but protests continued to target government mismanagement.
“What happened was not an accident, it was a crime,” said Sofia, a 23‑year‑old student from Thessaloniki. “We can’t watch all this happen and remain indifferent.” Another Thessaloniki philosophy student, Sophia Hatzopoulou, expressed similar anger: “Most of us knew people who were killed or wounded. It’s as if a part of us were lost.” Thousands gathered outside the Athens headquarters of Hellenic Train—operator of the network since 2017—to protest decades of safety failures despite previous close calls. The crowd shouted “Murderers!” and painted the word in red on the building’s glass façade.
Hundreds observed a minute of silence outside the Greek parliament in tribute to the victims. Later, riot police and a small group of protesters clashed in central Athens during a candle‑lit vigil. At Syntagma Square, officers fired tear gas and stun grenades at demonstrators throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, according to an AFP reporter. About 3,000 people turned out for the demonstration in Athens, with a similar number gathering in Thessaloniki, where police reported clashes on Thursday. Additional protests occurred in other cities: roughly 700 in Larissa, the town nearest the crash site, and 500 in the university town of Patras in the southwest Peloponnese.
Survivors described scenes of horror and chaos, and some relatives still await news of missing loved ones. Chief coroner Roubini Leontari told broadcaster ERT that more than ten people remained unaccounted for, including two Cypriots. Greece’s train services were paralyzed on Thursday by striking workers who argued that successive administrations’ mismanagement contributed to the fatal collision; the strike continued into Friday and is expected to last another 48 hours.
Rail unions say safety problems on the Athens‑Thessaloniki line had been known for years. The 59‑year‑old station master at Larissa has been charged with negligent homicide; his lawyer, Stefanos Pantzartzidis, acknowledged his client’s share of responsibility but warned against focusing on a single “tree” when a “forest” of issues exists. The station master, appointed only 40 days earlier after three months of training, faces life imprisonment if convicted. Investigators are also considering criminal charges against members of Hellenic Train’s management. Police seized audio files and other evidence during a raid on the Larissa station.
For decades, Greece’s 2,552‑kilometre rail network has suffered from mismanagement, poor maintenance, and obsolete equipment. After the transport minister resigned on Wednesday following the crash, his successor, Giorgos Gerapetritis, pledged a “complete evaluation of the political system and the state.” Safety systems on the line remain not fully automated, five years after the state‑owned operator TrainOSE was privatized and sold to Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato, becoming Hellenic Train. A fresh demonstration is scheduled for Syntagma Square at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Sunday.
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