Families of Victims Grieve as Protests Grow
As the coffin of a 34-year-old mother slain in Greece‘s deadliest train tragedy was hauled up the stairs of a church on Friday, families and friends, clothed in black, clutched to one other, in tears.
In the northern town of Katerini, the first known burial following the disaster that claimed at least 57 lives on Tuesday night, took place as authorities reported that 52 bodies had so far been identified, practically all through DNA testing given how horrific the incident was.
A passenger train and one hauling freight crashed on the same track at a high speed in central Greece, sending carriages flying off the rails and some of them crushing and engulfing in flames.
More than 350 passengers, many of them university students returning from a long vacation weekend in Athens to the northern town of Thessaloniki, were on board the passenger train. The collapse, which the government has blamed on human error but which unions claim was unavoidable owing to poor maintenance and incorrect signaling, has sparked anger across the nation.
Some 2,000 students protested in the streets of Athens on Friday after two days of nightly demonstrations, blocking the roadway in front of the parliament for a minute of silence.
Several protestors started fighting, throwing petrol bombs and setting trash cans on fire. Officers fired forth bursts of tear gas in response. Larissa, a key city close to the accident site, saw student protests as well.
The balloons were held up by students. “That was murder, not an accident,” said one sign. On the street, the phrase “Murderers” was painted in crimson.
“Most of all, we feel anger that this could happen in the year 2023, how two trains can crash… when there is so much technology,” remarked student Aggelos Thomopolous, age 21.
“How do you suppose I’m feeling? It’s shameful “a different student, Maria Choremi, 18, stated. She referred to lawmakers, saying, “All of Greece is sobbing from dawn to evening while they sit in their desks drinking coffee.
The parents of a 22-year-old man awaited word of their son’s fate outside the hospital in Larissa where several of the victims were transported in agony.
“They did murder him, that much is certain. All of them are killers “declared Panos Routsi.
His son Denis had informed him he would be late and would phone just prior to the collision. Routsi remarked, “I’m still waiting.
To see friends, Denis had traveled to Athens. His mother, Mirela, displayed a photo of her kid grinning to the media on her cell device. 38 passengers were still receiving medical care on Friday, with seven of them receiving intensive care.
The strike by rail employees, which started on Thursday, was extended by another 48 hours on Friday.
‘CALL ME WHEN YOU GET THERE’
Students in Athens wrote the phrase “Call me when you get there” which has since become one of the protest slogans, on schoolyard walls using their backpacks.
Outside of parliament, protesters also spelled out the phrase using torches.
The 59-year-old station master of Larissa was detained and has accepted some fault, according to his lawyer, who emphasized that he was not the only one to blame.
The main railworkers’ union demanded a meeting with the new transport minister, who was appointed following the crash with a mandate to ensure that such a tragedy can never happen again. “The federation has been sounding alarm bells for so many years, but it has never been taken seriously,” the union said.
The union stated that it desired a precise timeline for the introduction of safety procedures. Politicians from the opposition also began to criticize.
According to Popi Tsapanidou, a spokesman for Syriza, the largest opposition party in Greece, any attempt to conceal or cover up the facts regarding the Tempi tragedy is disrespectful to the deceased and portends future catastrophes.
The administration had previously said that an election will take place in the spring, with April 9 being the most likely day. Political observers believe that strategy may now be delayed.
