Thousands march in Greece to demand justice for train wreck victims

ATHENS: More than 40,000 people protested in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki on Sunday, demanding justice for the families of the 57 victims who died in a train crash in 2023, the worst railroad accident in Greece’s history.

Police said more than 30,000 marched in the capital Athens and 16,000 in the country’s second largest city.

Some skirmishes between protesters and riot police were reported in Athens, with some protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and police responding with tear gas.

The protesters carried banners saying “We don’t forget, we don’t forgive” and “Justice, not forgetting”, and much of central Athens was blocked by the demonstration.

On 28 February 2023, shortly before midnight, a train with more than 350 passengers travelling from Athens to Thessaloniki collided head-on with a freight train 350-kms north of Athens, killing 57 people, many of them students.

The two trains had been travelling toward each other on the same track for 19 minutes without triggering any alarm system.

The accident was blamed on faulty equipment and human error, and the head of a nearby station was charged. But according to leaks this week from an experts’ report funded by victims’ families, the cargo train was carrying an illegal load of explosive chemicals which contributed to the heavy death toll.