[Trending News] Greece is paralyzed by a strike to ask for justice for the train accident that caused 57 dead two years ago

Greece has been paralyzed with a general strike on the second anniversary of the worst train accident in its history. On February 28, 2023, 57 people lost their lives and 180 were injured when a passenger convoy that went from Athens to Salonica crashed into one of merchandise that circulated in the opposite direction. For two years, the families of the victims have accused the government of negligence, both to prevent the accident and when investigating it. In January, when the first details of the investigation of what happened were known, including a recording in which one of the victims “I have no oxygen” is heard, the mobilization took flight again. On January 27, in Athens, Salonica and other cities, the most massive demonstrations recorded in decades were held. A month later, even more people have taken to the streets in the greatest concentrations of the modern history of a country, Greece, in which mass mobilizations are common.

In Athens and Salonica, the number of protesters is counted by hundreds of thousands, but the strike has also had a high follow -up in the rest of the country. There have been protests on islands such as Donusa, with 141 inhabitants, or Fourni, with less than 1,500 neighbors in total. In Mitilene, Lesbos capital, such a large concentration had never been seen. The general comment was astonished. “It's amazing to see so many people, let's see if it works for something,” said Cristophore, a institute teacher.

In Athens, the marches have developed without incident until early in the afternoon. Around 14.00 local time (13.00 peninsular time) there were clashes between police and protesters that have extended through several neighborhoods. Medical services have served several injured people as a result of the overwhelming police charges, tear gas and water cannons that agents have used against those who protested. Some groups of hooded men have launched Molotov cocktails and burned garbage containers. There are more than 80 detainees and at least five injured.

On the other hand, all the flights of the Athens airport have been canceled, schools and universities are closed, the Ferris are in port, in hospitals only the emergency services work and the industrial fabric has been paralyzed, with a follow -up greater than 90% in most templates, according to the unions. The 24 -hour general strike has affected unusual sectors such as supermarkets, small commerce, bakeries and even those where one had never before seconded, such as ski slopes from Mount Parnassus, party rooms and gyms.

People of all ages have participated in the demonstrations. Whole classes of primary schools have marched together by flying the banners that had prepared the previous days. Numerous institute students had also painted signs for the occasion. “We live in a country in which the crimes are investigated by their authors,” read the fabric that carried four kids in Mitilene.

The investigation

The report by the National Agency for Air Accident and Railway Research of Greece (Eodasam), published one day before the anniversary, identifies critical failures in the rail infrastructure, human errors and systemic security deficiencies. The same ensures that the main cause was a mistake of the Larissa station chief, which manually diverted the passenger train to the road where the merchandise circulated. But it also points out the lack of communication protocols and the normalization of temporary deviations due to frequent infrastructure failures such as factors that contributed to the accident. The report also reflects lack of investment and maintenance after the 2009 crisis, which resulted in inoperative signaling systems and an insufficient template that carried out risk practices on a regular basis.

The research report also identified serious failures in the railway infrastructure of Greece. At the Larissa station and other key points, signaling systems did not work, which forced the station chiefs to manually manage trains without automatic route verification. The modernization planned in 2014 to automate the signaling and control of roads remained incomplete a decade later. The absence of security systems such as ETCs (acronym in English of European rail control system) or ATP (automatic trains protection) prevented automatic error detection and train arrest in case of danger. In addition, road infrastructure was deteriorated, with defective deviations that required manual adjustments, which increased the risk of failures. After the clash, the emergency response was not coordinated and there were rescue delays and failures in the documentation of the site.

Nikos Plakiás, who lost two daughters and a niece on the train, addressed the protesters from the syntagma square of the capital. There he demanded the repeal of the affair of the ministers so that his political and criminal responsibility can be investigated in the courts. “When the Greeks were united they never defeated them,” Playiás proclaimed before hundreds of thousands of people.