THOUSANDS of demonstrators staged fresh protests in Greece on Sunday as anger grows over the country’s deadliest rail crash, ratcheting up pressure on the government over the tragedy.
Protesters flooded Athens’ Syntagma Square in front of parliament, waving banners that read “We won’t forget, we won’t forgive” and “We will become the voice of all the dead”.
Fifty-seven people, many of them students, were killed when a passenger train and freight train collided head-on in central Greece on February 28.
Four railway officials have been charged but public anger has focused on long-running mismanagement of the network, and the country has been rocked by a series of sometimes violent mass protests.
On Sunday about 12,000 demonstrators gathered outside parliament while 5,000 took to the streets of the second city Thessaloniki, police said.
“It was anger and rage that brought me here,” Markella, a 65-year-old Athens protester who gave only one name, told AFP.
Another demonstrator, 26-year-old Alexandros, added: “We’re getting desperate. You don’t know what to say, what to do — all you can do is join the protest.”
The rallies came in response to calls from various bodies, from trade unions to political groups, to take to the streets.
According to a police statement, “an isolated incident occurred when a small group of people hurled marbles, stones and other objects at the police forces on Karaiskaki Square, causing minor damage”.
A total of ten arrests and two detentions were made and no injuries were reported.
The biggest protests over the crash so far came on Wednesday when tens of thousands demonstrated nationwide, with clashes erupting, while workers staged strikes.
Public and private sector employees are expected to walk out again Thursday.
