Deadly train crash in Greece: Protesters vent their anger in Athens
After an hour and a half of demonstration, clashes broke out in the heart of the Greek capital, this Sunday, March 5.
AP - Yorgos Karahalis
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Nearly 10,000 people demonstrated this Sunday, March 5 in the heart of Athens, in front of the Greek Parliament, five days after the deadly collision between two trains.
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Molotov cocktails, tear gas, burnt garbage cans, broken glass… After an hour and a half of demonstration, clashes broke out in the heart of the Greek capital between demonstrators and police.
Earlier, protesters released hundreds of black balloons to pay tribute to the 57 dead in the collision of a train from Athens to Thessaloniki in the north and a goods convoy.
The dilapidation of the Greek railway network, partly privatized in 2017, and its lack of personnel push the banners to denounce "it is not a human error", as the Greek Prime Minister had originally formulated it.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis also admitted it early Sunday morning while presenting a public apology.
“
As Prime Minister, I owe everyone, but especially the relatives of the victims, (to ask) forgiveness
,” he wrote in a rare solemn address.
"
In the Greece of 2023, it is not possible for two trains to run in opposite directions on the same line and for no one to notice
."
“
We cannot, do not want and must not hide behind human error
” attributed to the station master, he insisted.
"
Hypocrisy
"
But in the crowd of demonstrators, the teacher Mariana Chronopoulou is not convinced by these excuses.
For her, it is “
hypocrisy
”.
“
If the leaders really cared about our lives, this accident would not have happened.
The many malfunctions of the rail network would have been corrected.
The leaders knew there was a problem with the trains.
It's been going on for years and it's gotten worse since the economic crisis
, ”she denounces at the microphone of our correspondent,
Joël Bronner
.
The lack of experience of the station master has been denounced since the day after the tragedy.
According to Greek media, he had received only a short training before finding himself alone as station master, while traffic on this line was intense due to a long weekend.
The 59-year-old man was heard this Sunday by the courts with a view to his possible indictment for "manslaughter by negligence".
According to a judicial source, the investigation also aims "
to initiate criminal proceedings, if necessary, against members of the management of the company
" Hellenic Train, the Greek railways.
The company, bought in 2017 by the Italian public group Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane as part of the privatization program demanded by Greece's creditors during the economic crisis, remains the main target of protesters' anger.
But this Sunday, the slogans chanted by the crowd also targeted the three main ruling parties – Pasok, Syriza and New Democracy – or the entire Greek political class, which thus finds itself in the dock.
(
And with
AFP)
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