Greeks maintain mass protests demanding justice after Tempi prepare tragedy

Greeks are holding their greatest protests for years and collaborating in a normal strike to mark the second anniversary of a rail catastrophe that left 57 useless and dozens extra injured.

“I’m right here in reminiscence of the individuals who have been killed within the prepare crash. We demand justice,” mentioned 13-year-old Dimitris who had come together with his father Petros Polyzos to the biggest rally in Greece, in Syntagma Sq. in downtown Athens.

It was through the evening of 28 February 2023 {that a} passenger prepare full of college students collided head-on with a items prepare close to the Tempi gorge in central Greece.

An inquiry concluded on Thursday that the accident was brought on by human error, poor upkeep, and insufficient staffing.

The report by Greece’s Air and Rail Accident Investigation Authority warned that the protection failings uncovered by the crash had not but been addressed. “These youngsters have been killed as a result of the prepare was not protected,” mentioned the authority’s chief Christos Papadimitriou.

The Tempi catastrophe shocked Greeks with many accusing their conservative authorities of doing too little to make clear the causes of the tragedy. There’s a broadly held perception that the federal government has sought to cowl up the position of high-ranking officers.

Your complete centre of Athens was crowded with individuals of all ages and all walks of life, with many saying they have been attending an illustration for the primary time of their lives.

By early afternoon, tempers flared and clashes broke out with police. Petrol bombs have been thrown and police used tear gasoline.

Dmitris and his father have been amongst many protesters in Athens, sporting t-shirts that learn “I’ve no oxygen – justice to the tip”, referring to the 57 who died.

Rallies have been being organised in 346 cities, throughout Greece in Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Patras and Larissa, in addition to in cities throughout Europe, together with Brussels, Rome and several other cities within the UK.

The passenger service from Athens to Thessaloniki was crowded with college students returning to school after a vacation for Greek Orthodox Lent when the prepare collided with a items prepare on the identical monitor exterior Larisa.

Seconds afterwards a fireball nearly fully destroyed the primary two carriages of the prepare.

In Athens, protesters held placards studying “My youngster, name me once you arrive” and “No cover-up”.

Dina Gazi, 62, held white balloons with the names of those that died within the accident. “I firmly consider that the federal government is overlaying up these liable for the accident”, she advised NEWSTORN. “We demand that each one the proof come to mild.”

Outlets within the centre had their shutters down, many with messages of sympathy and assist of their home windows, and odd individuals didn’t go to work.

Faculties have been closed, flights and trains cancelled, and the one public transport nonetheless working was taking individuals to and from Syntagma Sq..

Taxi drivers promised to take individuals to the protest with out cost.

In a put up on Fb, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned that everybody’s ideas have been with the households of the 57 victims who died, in addition to with the wounded and people who survived however carried the reminiscence of that evening.

“Nothing will ever be the identical any extra,” he added, talking of “deadly human errors coupled with continual shortcomings of the state”.

In workplace for nearly six years, that is the primary time since Mitsotakis was elected that he has been in such a tough political place. He promised to maneuver “extra dynamically and rapidly” to result in trendy and protected trains.

For Greeks this mass protest was uncommon in that it was unrelated to the financial system and their private funds.

Thursday’s inquiry discovered that hundreds of thousands of euros had been paid out to cowl the set up of security techniques alongside the railway, however that the venture remained incomplete on account of corruption and forms.

Relations of these killed within the crash consider the products prepare could have been carrying contraband gas on behalf of a smuggling ring.

“It’s unattainable to find out what precisely triggered [the fireball], however simulations and professional studies point out the potential presence of a hitherto unknown gas,” the report discovered.

“Severe info went lacking as a result of the positioning of the accident was not sealed,” consultants say, growing public anger and heightening hypothesis of a cover-up.

Authorities spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis denied there was a cover-up and mentioned the allegation was not backed up by the report.

Additional allegations have surfaced suggesting orders got to clear the crash website and “landfill” it days after the catastrophe, which meant that proof disappeared. However Marinakis mentioned the inquiry report concluded that no political directive was give to change the scene.

As he stood within the midst of Friday’s protest in Syntagma Sq., Pavlos Aslanidis spoke concerning the loss of life of his 26-year-old son Dimitris within the Tempi accident.

“I do not understand how I discover the power to face,” he advised NEWSTORN.

“My son provides me the power. In any other case, I would not be right here as we speak demanding justice.”