1000’s march in Greece as anger builds over prepare deaths

Friday evening’s violence was not intensive, and the protests have been in any other case peaceable. Clashes additionally occurred in Greece’s second largest metropolis, Thessaloniki.

In Athens, riot police exterior parliament fired tear fuel and flash grenades to disperse a small variety of protesters who hurled petrol bombs at them, set hearth to rubbish bins, and challenged police cordons. No arrests or accidents have been reported.

The protests referred to as by left-wing and pupil teams have been fueled by anger on the perceived lack of security measures in Greece’s rail community. The biggest on Friday was within the central Greek metropolis of Larissa, not removed from the crash website, the place a number of thousand folks marched peacefully. Comparable protests have been held Wednesday and Thursday.

FIRST FUNERAL IN NORTHERN GREECE

The accident at Tempe, 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens shocked the nation and highlighted security shortcomings within the small however dated rail community.

As restoration groups spent a 3rd day scouring the wreckage Friday and households started receiving the stays of their family members, the funeral for the primary of the victims was held in northern Greece.

Athina Katsara, a 34-year-old mom of an toddler boy, was being buried in her dwelling city of Katerini. Her injured husband was in hospital and unable to attend.

HARROWING IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

The pressure of the head-on collision and ensuing hearth difficult the duty of figuring out the loss of life toll. Officers labored around the clock to match elements of dismembered and burned our bodies with tissue samples to determine the quantity.

The our bodies have been returned to households in closed caskets following identification by next-of-kin DNA samples — a course of adopted for all of the stays.

Relations of passengers nonetheless listed as unaccounted-for waited exterior a Larissa hospital for check outcomes. Amongst them was Mirella Ruci, whose 22-year-old son, Denis, remained lacking.

“My son shouldn’t be on any official record thus far and I’ve no data. I’m pleading with anybody who might have seen him, in rail automotive 5, seat 22, to contact me if they might have seen him,” Ruci, who struggled to cease her voice from cracking, informed reporters.

Flags on the historical Acropolis, parliament and different public buildings round Greece remained at half-staff on the third day of nationwide mourning. Nationwide rail companies have been halted by a strike for a second day, with extra strikes deliberate over the weekend.

Police early Friday searched a rail coordination workplace in Larissa, eradicating proof as a part of an ongoing investigation. The ability’s 59-year-old station supervisor was arrested and charged with a number of counts of negligent manslaughter.

Stelios Sourlas, a lawyer representing a 23-year-old sufferer of the collision, stated duty for the deaths went past the station supervisor.

“The station supervisor might have the precept duty … however the duty can also be broader: There are the rail operators and public officers whose job it was to make sure that security measures and procedures have been correctly in place,” Sourlas stated.

Rail unions say the community was poorly maintained regardless of upgrades to supply quicker trains in recent times.

Greece’s center-right authorities had been extensively anticipated Friday to name nationwide elections for early April, however the announcement and sure date was more likely to be delayed.

The passenger prepare concerned within the crash was touring alongside Greece’s busiest route, from Athens to Thessaloniki. The freight prepare was heading in the wrong way, on the identical monitor.

Two of the victims have been recognized Friday as Cypriot college students Anastasia Adamidou and Kyprianos Papaioannou. Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides stated the state would cowl the price of their repatriation and funerals.

Neighboring Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama introduced that flags on public buildings might be lowered to half-staff Sunday, as a mark of respect for the victims in Greece. ___ Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Vassilis Kommatas and Giannis Papanikos in Larissa, Greece, Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.