Tens of thousands of people gathered in Athens and other Greek cities to mark the second anniversary of the country’s worst rail tragedy as strikes caused a general standstill.
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Fifty-seven people, mostly students, died on February 28, 2023 when a train from Athens to Thessaloniki carrying more than 350 passengers collided with a goods train near the central city of Larissa.
Over 50,000 people turned out to protest at Athens’s central Syntagma Square, police said, with an equivalent number in Thessaloniki.
Many walked several kilometres to join the protest as subway trains heading downtown were already jammed with passengers.
“Today we must send a strong message to punish those responsible for this tragedy,” Nikos Lykomitros, a 20-year-old archaeology student, told Agence France-Presse in Athens.
For Babis Solakidis, a 44-year-old metalsmith, “This was not a simple accident, and there will be more if safety measures are not taken.”