Greece has witnessed a few protests in the past week, after a train collision on Tuesday.
About 57 people including rail workers were said to have died in the crash.
Rail workers went on a strike spurred by anger and pain, as they mourned the loss of their fellow workers who died in the collision.
“Pain has turned into anger for the dozens of dead and wounded colleagues and fellow citizens,” the workers’ union said in a statement.
Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has begged for forgiveness from the families of the victims of the train crash.
In a Facebook message, Mr Mitsotakis noted that “in the Greece of 2023… two trains heading in different directions cannot run on the same line and no-one notice”.
Large Protest In Athens
Protesters were said to have clashed with police officers as about 12,000 were said to have taken part in a protest in the capital Athens.
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Some of the protesters set fire to trash bins and were throwing petrol bombs.Â
In response, the police fired tear gas and stun grenades which cleared the central Syntagma Square of the protesters within a few minutes.
The protesters were reported to have released hundreds of black balloons into the sky in memory of the victims.
How It Happened
On Tuesday, a passenger train carrying 350 people crashed into a freight train.
Reports say both trains ended up on the same track.
The rail workers union blames successive governments’ “disrespect” towards Greek railways for leading to this “tragic result”.
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A 59-year-old station master in Larissa was arrested and has been charged with manslaughter by negligence.
The country’s transport minister has also resigned over the incident.
He takes responsibility for the authorities’ “long-standing failures” to fix a railway system that is not fit for the 21st Century.
Also, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had earlier suggested that “tragic human error” was too lame.
Unfortunately, this response was met with anger and disapproval.
Immediately after the accident, the government declared three days of national mourning.
Also, it promised to cover the cost of the victims’ funerals.
