More than 100,000 Greeks demonstrated on September 6 in Athens protesting against the government over the Tempe train crash that killed 57 passengers on February 28, 2023, when a train switching operator managed to put two trains on the same tracks, causing a head-on collision near the city of Tempe as students were returning to university in Thessaloniki. WIth the new school year now beginning, students remember the tragedy. Similar demonstrations in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, drew 50,000.
The immediate reason for the demonstration was to protest the fact that the government has closed the case file, and, therefore, is not accepting new evidence. The government handling of the case has been scandalous and has included gross irregularities in the investigation. There were even suspicions that the cargo train that ran into the passenger train was carrying explosives or other non-declared dangerous cargo.
