According to the police, around 12,000 people had gathered in front of Parliament for a protest rally. They released hundreds of black balloons into the sky to commemorate those killed in the tragedy near the city of Larisa. The demonstrators were made up of students, railway employees and members of groups close to left-wing parties.
They commemorated the victims of the accident and called for better safety standards in rail traffic. “This crime will not be forgotten,” they cried as the black balloons rose. A poster read: “Your policy costs lives.” On the sidelines of the rally, demonstrators set garbage cans on fire and attacked the police with incendiary devices. The police used tear gas and stun grenades.
Athens: protests after train crash
At a protest rally after the serious train accident in Greece that killed 57 people, demonstrators in front of the parliament in Athens gave violent clashes to the police.
Premier asked for forgiveness
Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis apologized to the victims’ families. As Prime Minister, he “owes it especially to the families of the victims to ask for forgiveness,” Mitsotakis said in a message to the nation on Facebook on Sunday. “It can’t be that in Greece in 2023 two trains will run into each other on the same route and nobody will notice,” he added.
On the route between Athens and the port city of Thessaloniki, a passenger train and an oncoming freight train collided head-on shortly before midnight on Tuesday evening. It was the worst train accident in the country’s history.
Details raise questions
More and more details are coming to light about the head-on collision, which show a large-scale failure. The career of the station master alone, who made the crucial mistake and sent the passenger train onto the wrong tracks, raises countless questions.
The man is 59 years old and only started his training as a station manager last year, although the age limit for training is 42, according to Greek media reports. Previously he worked as a porter and as a messenger in the Ministry of Culture.
The man should not have been trained at all and was reportedly completely overwhelmed. He also sat for days without a more experienced colleague at the important post in the Larisa train station. After sending the train onto the wrong tracks, he is said to have ignored electronic instructions and inquiries from both one of the affected train drivers and a station master at one of the next stations, according to “Kathimerini”. The trains therefore raced towards each other unhindered for minutes before the fatal head-on collision occurred.
The 59-year-old is accused of “the death of a large number of people”, according to judicial circles on Sunday. He faces a prison sentence of between ten years and life imprisonment.