Protests have erupted in Greece over a train crash that killed 43 people, with many seeing it as an accident waiting to happen.
Rioters clashed with police outside the headquarters of Hellenic Trains in Athens – the company responsible for maintaining Greece’s railways.
Demonstrations were also held in Thessaloniki and the city of Larissa, where the accident happened on Tuesday night.
The government has said that an independent investigation will bring justice.
Three days of national mourning have been declared across the country following the incident, in which a passenger service collided with a freight train, causing the front carriages to catch fire.
The front coaches of the passenger train were mostly destroyed.
Many of the 350 passengers on board were students in their 20s returning to Thessaloniki after a long weekend celebrating Greek Orthodox Lent.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said “tragic human error” was responsible for the disaster.
A 59-year-old station master in Larissa has been charged with negligent homicide. He denied any wrongdoing and attributed the accident to a technical fault.
Rail union members believe the safety systems were not working properly, with repeated warnings about this over the years.
In protest and mourning, rail workers are planning to go on strike on Thursday over what they say is government negligence by the railways.
“Pain has turned to anger for dozens of dead and injured colleagues and fellow citizens,” the labor union said in a statement announcing the strike.
“The disrespect shown to Greek railways by governments over the years has had tragic consequences,” the statement quoted by JEE News added.
Transport Minister Kostas Kramanlis resigned over the disaster, saying he would take responsibility for the authorities’ “prolonged failures” to fix a railway system he said was unfit for the 21st century.
But outside a hospital where the bodies of victims of the train crash were being brought, a banner was hung claiming that the ongoing government investigation would cover up any systemic failure.
