Protest rallies marking 3rd year since Tempi rail crash held in Greece and abroad
With the central message "Their profits or our lives. It was not an accident, it was murder. We do not forget, we do not forgive", the Association of the Families of Tempi Victims was joined by labour centres, the civil servants' union federation ADEDY and other trade union organisations, student associations and other bodies, gathering opposite Parliament to demand "true justice" ahead of the trial over the rail crash.
"With the main trial starting on March 23, our struggle to uncover the true causes and all the guilty parties, however highly placed, is more crucial than ever. The Tempi accident was no 'unfortunate moment' but the expression of an inhuman policy, in which human lives count for nothing before returns and profits," their message said, urging all citizens to "form a common front against cover-ups and forgetting".
The rally also observed a minute's silence in honour of the 57 victims, before the start of speeches.
Several unions have declared nationwide strikes and other mobilisations, in addition to rallies gathering in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greece cities. Demonstrations were also organised abroad.
In addition to Syntagma Square, demonstrations were held in front of the Venizelos Statue in the city of Thessaloniki, with thousands of all ages attending both the rally and subsequent march to the city's railway station, where young men and women left flowers for the 57 who never arrived. According to the police, 21 people were detained and five arrested.
A mass demonstration was also held in the central square in the city of Larisa, near the site where the deadly collision occurred, and where a memorial service for the victims was held at 13:00. Demonstrators were joined by farmers and youth organisations in a march to the city's railway station.
The service was attended by families of the victims and all citizens that wished to pay their respects. Flowers and wreaths were placed at the site and a minute's silence in the memory of the victims was observed. At 19:00, a concert dedicated to the memory of the victims is to be held in the city.
Demonstrations and marches were also held on the island of Rhodes, the cities of Chania, Rethymno and Herakleion in Crete, in Ioannina and other towns and cities of Epirus, on the islands of Lesvos, Corfu and Lefkada, in Lamia, Livadia, Thiva, Karpenissi, Amfissa, Halkia and Atalanti in Central Greece, in the port city of Patras, the city of Pyrgos in the Peloponnese and in Agrinio and other towns of western Greece, as well as Karditsa, Kalambaka and Trikala, where speakers also referred to the tragic deaths at the Violanta biscuit factory.
