After the collision of two trains near Tempi, Greece on 28 February 2023,

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

broke out across

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

. Millions of people participated in vigils, protests, or

riots A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

in response to the perceived lack of safety measures. Railway unions declared strikes in protest of Greece's government failing to modernize the rail system. The protests are some of the largest in Greek history, comparable in size to those that took place in 2011 during the height of the

Greek financial crisis Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis (Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that le ...

Timeline

On 1 March 2023, the first protests broke out in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

. At the end of the Athens protest, when the demonstrators reached the

Hellenic Train Hellenic Train S.A., formerly TrainOSE S.A. ( el, ΤραινΟΣΕ Α.Ε., pronounced ''trenosé'') is a private railway company in Greece which currently operates passenger and freight trains on OSE lines. TrainOSE was acquired in September 201 ...

headquarters, fights broke out, with the police using

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...

against the crowd. On 2 March and in response to both the tragedy and the growing dissatisfaction of the industry in general, the Panhellenic Union of Railway Personnel walked out in protest of working conditions and the lack of modernization of the railway network, beginning their strike, despite the fact that the STASY subway workers union had called off the planned strike in the Athens subway out of respect for the victims of the previous day. New protests were called in Athens and Thessaloniki on 2 and 3 March, with new clashes between the protesters and the police on 3 March. On 5 March, protests in several cities and towns of Greece occurred. The protest in Athens, with a participation of 10,000 people according to the police, was attacked by the police. Videos include police officers falling with motorcycles into the crowd, hitting and using teargas against peaceful protestors. Solidarity protests occurred in other European cities, including

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. On 7 March, students walked out of class, closing many schools in Thessaloniki, forcing schools to move to online classes via

Webex Webex by Cisco is an American company that develops and sells web conferencing, videoconferencing and contact center as a service applications. It was founded as WebEx in 1995 and taken over by Cisco Systems in 2007. Its headquarters are in San ...

for a couple of days. In Athens, students left 57 empty chairs outside the ministry of transport. The Confederation of Public Servants of Greece (ADEDY) called a 24-hour general strike for 8 March 2023. Coinciding with feminist demonstrations for the

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday list of minor secular observances#March, celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights, women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, ...

, large protests happened throughout Greece. In Thessaloniki, an estimated 60,000 people participated in the afternoon protest and 25,000 in the evening feminist march. Several smaller scale protests in various neighborhoods of Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras took place on Saturday 11 March. New demonstrations occurred on 12 March. The

General Confederation of Greek Workers The General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), in Greek Γ.Σ.Ε.Ε, is the highest, tertiary trade union body in Greece. It was founded in 1918 and is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. GSEE is made up of 83 work ...

, called a 24-hour general strike on 16 March, which turned into a demonstration of 30,000 people in Athens (according to the police) and several smaller protests in other cities and towns. The protest in Athens, despite being peaceful, was attacked by the police. There were cases of police brutality even against junior high school students.{{Cite web , date=2012-02-18 , title=Χημικά και ξύλο σε μαθητές γυμνασίου! , url=https://www.dimokratia.gr/ellada/204802/chimika-kai-xylo-se-mathites-gymnasioy/ , access-date=2023-03-28 , website=www.dimokratia.gr , language=el Protesters in thessaloniki

References

Protests in Greece 2023 protests February 2023 events in Greece March 2023 events in Greece