Greeks demand accountability two years after deadly train crash

The dispersal of some of the largest protests Greece has seen in decades suggests the government has no good answers

Protesters gathered in Syntagma Square before being dispersed with teargas on Friday 28 February (Photo John T Psaropoulos)

Friday 28 February saw the largest demonstrations on the streets of Greece in many years, calling on the government to reveal the full causes of the Tempe train crash two years earlier, in which 57 peopled were violently killed. Beyond transparency, people called for accountability. It was not enough to blame an incompetent stationmaster in Larissa, who placed Intercity 62 northbound on a southbound track until it collided with a freight train. Many people want the party-political system of favour dismantled that put the stationmaster in place, and politicians held to account as well as state employees.