Greek police have been pelted with petrol bombs in clashes with protesters as anger continues to mount over a train crash that left 57 people dead.
Dozens more passengers were injured in what was the country’s deadliest rail crash in living memory, as the train they were traveling on collided with a freight train outside the town of Larissa.
Greece has seen widespread protests since Tuesday’s high-speed crash, with tens of thousands of protesters gathering to demand better safety standards.
Sunday’s violent scenes in central Athens, the nation’s capital, were quickly dispelled by riot police using stun grenades and tear gas.
Most of the approximately 10,000 students, railway workers and others in attendance demonstrated peacefully, while expressing sympathy for the lives lost in the crash.
The late-night passenger train was packed with university students returning from a long weekend vacation, heading north from Athens to Thessaloniki.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed the accident on “tragic human error”.
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CCTV: Moment of fatal train collision in Greece
What do the protesters want?
Some signs carried in Athens on Sunday called the train crash a “crime”.
“Their policies are costing human lives,” said another, referring to underinvestment in rail infrastructure dating back to the Greek debt crisis that lasted from 2010 to 2018.
Rail unions say the network has been substandard for years, with a planned remote monitoring and signaling system yet to be delivered. They demand that the government commit to a timetable for implementation.
Mr Mitsotakis acknowledged that, had the system been in place, “it would have been, in practice, impossible for this accident to occur”.
Meanwhile, railway workers have staged walkouts to denounce cost-cutting measures.
Learn more:
‘Horribly bizarre’: Greece train crash scene
Protesters demand improved safety standards on Greece’s rail network
Station master facing charges
As the Greek people await action from the government, a station master in Larissa who was on duty at the time of the accident faces charges of endangering lives and disrupting public transport.
He appeared before a magistrate on Sunday, but cannot be named for legal reasons.
