In the aftermath of a massive demonstration in Athens, the Greek government called on Monday, March 6, the Supreme Court to launch "as a priority" an investigation in connection with the rail disaster in Tempé (center) which continues to raise a powerful wave of anger in the country.

"The failures of the (rail) network are deep and no government has managed to repair them, not even ours," acknowledged government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou during a press briefing.

Under the fire of criticism since the collision between two trains which killed 57 people on February 28, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked the prosecutor's office of Greece's highest court to launch investigations into these "systemic" failures.

"I ask you to give priority to these cases and assign them, if you deem it appropriate, to the highest level of investigation possible", wrote in a letter the head of the conservative government, whose mea culpa on Sunday did not was not enough to bring down the indignation in the country.

For the sixth day in a row, a strike on Monday paralyzed intercity rail traffic and some 12,000 people took to the streets of the capital on Sunday to shout their "tremendous rage" and point the finger at the responsibility of "murderous governments" in the country's biggest train disaster.

This Athenian rally, the fourth since the accident, degenerated into violent clashes.

At the Molotov cocktails of the demonstrators, the police responded with the use of tear gas and stun grenades.

Popular anger is also targeting the railway company Hellenic Train, born in 2017 from the partial privatization of the public group OSE which had been carried out as part of the aid plan demanded by international creditors during the economic crisis (2009-2018).

This company is implicated for numerous negligence and shortcomings which led to this disaster described as a "national tragedy" by the authorities and which led to the resignation of the Minister of Transport.

On Twitter, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had discussed with the Prime Minister possible "technical support" from the European Union to Athens "to modernize its rail network and improve its safety".

This morning I discussed with PM @kmitsotakis further technical support that the EU can provide to Greece to modernize its railways and improve their safety.



Commission and @ERA_railways experts will travel this week to Athens.



Rail safety is paramount.

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 6, 2023

The accident happened shortly before midnight on Tuesday when a passenger train and a freight convoy collided head-on as they traveled on the same track linking Athens to the large university city of Thessaloniki (north).

Most of the victims were young people and students returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend.      

Upcoming elections

Aged 59, the station master who was on duty in Larissa, the town closest to the scene of the tragedy, was charged and imprisoned on Sunday for his alleged responsibility in "the death of a large number of people", a crime punishable by life imprisonment.

In Greece, however, many voices were raised to refuse to make this employee, who had only undergone forty days of training before taking up his post, the sole person responsible for the tragedy.

This is what the Prime Minister seemed to do the day after the accident before changing his mind.

"We cannot, do not want and must not hide behind the human error" imputed to the station master, he declared on Sunday, asking "forgiveness" to the families of the victims.

The Supreme Court investigation he called for on Monday is separate from the one he entrusted on Friday to a committee of three experts, responsible for "highlighting the problems and systemic dysfunctions" of the rail system in Greece. .

The left-wing opposition criticized this decision, ensuring that the government was seeking, with this group of experts, to clear itself of all responsibility in the accident in the run-up to the legislative elections.

In January, the Greek Prime Minister had set the date for this election in "spring" while the opposition demanded the resignation of his government because of the scandal caused by the wiretapping of the leader of the Greek Socialist Party (Pasok-Kinal) Nikos Androulakis by the intelligence services.

With AFP

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