Thousands of students across Greece protest demanding justice for the victims of the train accident (photos-videos)

They want all those responsible to be brought to justice

Thousands of students across Greece have taken to the streets in protest demanding those responsible for the fatal train crash in Larissa, central Greece be brought to justice.

“Text me when you arrive”, is one of the main slogans written on banners that can be seen in every part of the country – a reference to a text message found on one of the victims’ phones. From Athens and Larissa to Volos and Patras, young people have taken to the streets offering their own unanswered “whys” for the tragedy.

A great gathering is underway at the Propylaia in downtown Athens by student associations of Athens expressing their outrage over the fatal accident which caused the death of 57 people so far, many of whom were students. The students are demanding authorities shed light on the causes of the tragic accident.

In a statement issued by the students, they write: “The huge mobilisation concerns the prescribed crime in Tempe that claimed the lives of dozens of young people and students. In the decisions and resolutions, among other things, the enormous eternal responsibilities of all governments and the company are mentioned, but also the enormous anger of all the students of the country that overflows and is expressed through these mobilisations. At the same time, the following slogans are mentioned for the mobilization ‘THEIR PROFITS – OUR DEAD’. We will be the voice of all the dead! – The prescribed crime will not be covered up!”

Large crowds of students, and other citizens, gathered early Friday afternoon in the central square of Larissa to protest holding banners and cardboards with messages, demanding answers about the circumstances of the accident that claimed the lives of dozens of people.

“Text me when you arrive – Ok Mum,” reads one of the shocking banners.

The gathering was organised by student associations and the Coordinating Committee of Larissa Students demanding that the causes that led to yesterday’s tragedy be immediately investigated and that responsibilities be assigned. “We will not allow all this to go unpunished” they thundered.

“This crime should not be covered up, let us be the voice of all the dead”, and “The rails of development were painted with blood, we will never forget the crime on the trains” are two of the slogans shouted by students and schoolchildren in the Central Square of Larissa.

A particularly large rally took place in the prefecture of Karditsa for the tragedy in Tempi with hundreds of students initially gathering in the central square of the city and then marching to the train station on Friday morning.

According to a report by KarditsaLive.Net, at least 13 Secondary Education schools are under occupation or abstaining from classes on Friday morning. The children arrived from their schools at the assembly point holding banners and placards and shouting slogans about the tragic accident that shocked the whole country.

In an emotionally charged atmosphere, the students marched to the Karditsa railway station.

The tracks were filled with flowers and candles from the children who took part in the student march and among them, a tragic figure, the mother of the deceased Vaios who was embraced by all the students, on the railway tracks.

Hanging banners on the flyover bridge denounced the crime raising unanswered questions about a tragedy that has shocked the whole country.

The large student march had started earlier from the central square of Karditsa. One of the largest of its kind that the city has seen. Among the crowd were little children and many teachers. With banners and bouquets in hand, they headed to the station. Even as they shouted slogans for justice for the victims and their families, the pain was pervasive.

The youth of Volos shouted also marched shouting “never again”, while the students of the Music School, from which the student had graduated, the only survivor of the first carriage of the train, who is hospitalised, were shocked.