Strikes and protests over deadly train crash bring Greece to standstill

28/2/2025 17:31

Striking workers grounded flights and halted sea and train transport across Greece on Friday and people gathered for protests in anger over a perceived lack of justice two years after the country's worst-ever train crash killed 57 people.



A passenger train filled with students collided with a freight train on February 28, 2023, near the Tempi gorge in central Greece. Two years later, the safety gaps that caused the crash have not been filled, an inquiry found on Thursday. A separate judicial investigation remains unfinished and no one has been convicted in the accident.



That exasperates many in Greece, where mistrust of government is rife following a 2009-2018 debt crisis in which millions lost out on wages and pensions, and public services suffered from underfunding.



All international and domestic flights were grounded as air traffic controllers joined seafarers, train drivers, doctors, lawyers and teachers in a 24-hour general strike to pay tribute to the victims of the crash.



Across the country, businesses were shut, theatres cancelled performances and by early morning, thousands began to gather in the capital's central Syntagma Square under the watch of police in riot gear. A sign read: "Government of murderers".