Video: Violent Protests Erupt Following Greece's Deadliest Train Accident

On Sunday, tempers erupted in Greece as protesters clashed with police over a 57-person train crash, the biggest rail disaster in Greek history.

At least 12,000 demonstrators gathered in front of the Greek Parliament building in Athens. As protestors began tossing Molotov cocktails and setting garbage cans on fire, the police used tear gas to push them back, while the protesters threw Molotov cocktails and lit trash cans on fire.

Protesters, Cops Clash Over Greece Train Accident

After Tuesday's collision between a freight train and a passenger train, rage has risen throughout Greece. The head-on collision between the two trains caused both to derail and catch fire. While the reason for the crash is being investigated, the trains approached each other at high speeds for at least 12 minutes before the collision.

According to CNN, Greece has one of Europe's worst rail safety records, with the worst railway mortality rate per million train kilometers among 28 nations from 2018 to 2020. Protesters have demanded revisions to the country's train laws, and the Greek transport minister has resigned in response to the accident.

After three days of protests nationwide, some 10,000 students, railway workers, and groups linked with left-leaning political parties gathered in Athens' Syntagma Square to express sorrow for the lives lost and demand improved safety standards on the rail network.

According to Al Jazeera, the train from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki was full of returning college students after a long holiday weekend. The accident has sparked an outpouring of rage and a renewed emphasis on safety measures.

Since Wednesday, railway employees, who also lost coworkers in the disaster, have conducted rotating walkouts to protest cost-cutting and underinvestment in the train system, a legacy of Greece's crippling fiscal crisis from 2010 to 2018.

The administration of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has attributed the incident to human error. Mitsotakis stated on Sunday that human mistakes should not absolve responsibility for a long-suffering train network. This week, a station master on duty in the adjacent city of Larissa at the time of the incident was charged with endangering life and disrupting public transportation.

The station master, who cannot be identified according to Greek law, appeared before a judge on Sunday after his attorney asked for additional time to reply to the allegations on Saturday in light of fresh evidence regarding the case. This process was in progress.

Greece's PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis Apologizes

Unions representing railway employees assert that the whole train network's safety systems have been weak for years due to the late delivery of a remote surveillance and signaling system. They have requested a timeline for adopting safety procedures from the government.

Per The Guardian, Greece's prime minister apologized for the country's worst train accident. Mitsotakis stated on Sunday that if a remote system had been implemented over the whole train network, "it would have been physically impossible for the disaster to occur."

"As prime minister, I owe everyone, but most of all the relatives of the victims, an apology. Justice will very fast investigate the tragedy and determine liabilities," he wrote on Facebook. He said Greece will shortly announce measures, adding that Athens would seek advice on increasing train safety from the European Commission and others.

Pope Francis stated on Sunday that he was thinking about the crash victims. "I pray for the deceased, I am near to the injured and their families, and may Our Lady comfort them," he told the throng in St. Peter's Square, Rome, during his weekly speech. Strikes have paralyzed the operation of trains and subways.

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