clashes break out in Athens between police and protesters

“Down with the government of assassins!”. Clashes erupted Friday evening, March 3, between police and demonstrators in the center of Athens, on the sidelines of a demonstration in memory of the 57 people killed on Tuesday in the head-on collision of two trains. Riot forces fired tear gas and stun grenades at a group of protesters who had earlier thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails at police during a rally, according to an AFP reporter.

>> Greece: what we know about the collision between two trains which killed at least 57 people

The demonstrators, gathered in Syntagma Square, located below Parliament, notably set fire to garbage cans, according to images from public television Ert. They also attacked a police officer on the ground, resulting in tear gas fire from the police, according to AFP images. These incidents took place at the end of a demonstration during which more than 2,000 Greeks angry observed a minute of silence, in memory of the 57 people killed.

First scuffles in Thessaloniki

Earlier today, north of the Greek capital, a similar number of protesters demonstrated in Thessaloniki, the country’s second city where many victims studied. At the beginning of this rally, brief clashes opposed the anti-riot forces and a small group of students who threw a Molotov cocktail. The police responded by firing tear gas before moving away from the places of the rally where the demonstrators resumed their march, according to an AFP journalist in Thessaloniki. But at the end of this rally, a small group of demonstrators again threw Molotov cocktails, prompting the same response from riot forces.

Greece is seized by a vast movement of anger after a train disaster which killed 57 people, caused by human error. The government made its mea culpa on Thursday, acknowledging “chronic weaknesses” in the railway sector, without succeeding in silencing the anger of a country upset by this collision.