Greece‘s public services, including transportation, were paralysed by a 24-hour nationwide general strike called by labour organisations in response to last month’s tragic train tragedy.
A series of marches in Athens’ centre on Thursday organised by the civil employees’ umbrella union ADEDY, the private sector union GSEE, and other unions and opposition groups resulted in scuffles between protestors and police, according to Xinhua news agency, citing local media.
According to police estimates, some 25,000 people gathered in the streets of Athens on February 28 to demand accountability for the worst trail tragedy in Greece, which lost 57 lives.
They also demanded justice for the victims and secure railways for everyone.
The mobilisation on Thursday came after two weeks of walkouts and protests in response to the tragedy.
“We are here, and we demand that everything comes to light. We will not stop until we are heard,” Konstantinos Vlachakis, secretary of the Central Youth Council of the main opposition SYRIZA party, told Xinhua.
So far, four station masters and a supervisor have been charged with manslaughter by negligence in connection with the head-on collision of a passenger train and a freight train in central Greece.
The government has apologised for longstanding failures in railway network safety, promising a gradual overhaul.
Passenger and freight services that were suspended on March 1 are anticipated to resume gradually on March 22 under rigorous safety standards, according to officials.
