Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday asked for forgiveness from the families of victims of Greece’s worst rail disaster, which killed 57 people and has sparked widespread outrage.
“As prime minister, I owe it to everyone, but especially to the victims’ relatives, (to ask for) forgiveness,” he wrote in a message addressed to the nation.
At the same time, more violent clashes broke out between police and protesters outside the Greek parliament in Athens on Sunday evening as thousands attended a rally following the nation’s worst rail disaster that killed 57, AFP reporters saw.
Some demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and threw Molotov cocktails, while police responded firing tear gas and stun grenades, clearing Syntagma Square of the protesters within a few minutes.
Police said 12,000 people had gathered by the large esplanade in front of the parliament to demand accountability for Tuesday’s head-on collision near the central city of Larissa that has sparked widespread outrage.
They had released hundreds of black balloons into the sky in memory of the dead, with some holding signs reading “Down with killer governments”.
Train and metro services have been paralysed by strike action.
Meanwhile, Greece’s labour and social affairs ministry denied any plan to reduce the amount allocated for the funeral expenses of the Tempi train crash victims, calling such rumours “groundless” in an announcement on Sunday, AMNA reported.
“There is no reduction!” the ministry said, clarifying that “with a Joint Ministerial Decision that is issued, the amount of the state expenditure for the funeral of each victim of natural disasters and accidents is set at 3,500 euros.” The relevant decision is to be issued on Monday.
Source: AFP
