Violent clashes pitted police and protesters in Athens on Sunday on the sidelines of a protest after the train disaster that sparked outrage across the country despite the my culpa of the Prime Minister. 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 freight convoy.
Most of the victims were young people and students returning to Thessaloniki, the large university city, after a long weekend. And this drama has aroused immense anger at the negligence and shortcomings in the railways. And the Athenian rally, the fourth since the accident, degenerated into violent incidents.
Molotov cocktails and tear gas
Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and police responded with tear gas and stun grenades. “We feel immense rage!, summarized in the procession Michalis Hasiotis, president of the union of chartered accountants. The greed, the lack of measures taken for the protection of passengers led to the worst railway tragedy in our country. “Nothing is going well in this country, the hospitals are dying, the schools are closing, the forests are burning… Who are they kidding? added Nikos Tsikalakis, president of a railway union.
The anger is primarily directed at Hellenic Train. Purchased in 2017 by the Italian public group Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane (FS) as part of the privatization program demanded by Greece’s creditors during the economic crisis (2009-2018), the company is blamed for numerous negligence . And railway union representatives had sounded the alarm just three weeks ago, warning: “We are not going to wait for the accident to happen to see those responsible shed crocodile tears. »
“Down with murderous governments! »
The word “Assassins” was painted in red letters on the window of the Hellenic Train headquarters in Athens on Friday. The Greek railways defended themselves on Saturday evening, claiming to have “been present from the first moments on the scene” and set up “a call center (…) to provide information”.
In Larissa, the city closest to the scene of this accident, the station master implicated for having committed a fatal error, was heard by the courts on Sunday with a view to his possible indictment for “manslaughter by negligence”. The 59-year-old man, whose identity, Vassilis Samaras, was revealed by the Ministry of Transport, admitted his responsibility in the frontal collision between two trains which left 57 dead.
At the time of his hearing before an investigating judge, some 12,000 people shouted their anger on Syntagma Square, the large esplanade in front of the Parliament of the Greek capital, brandishing signs and banners: “Down with the murderous governments! », « It was not a human error! “.
The lack of experience of the station master has indeed 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. According to a judicial source, the investigation also aims “to initiate criminal proceedings, if necessary, against members of the management” of Hellenic Train.