Demonstrators flooded previous me as deafening police blast bombs exploded round us, to the left and proper tear gasoline canisters landed on the street, spinning and belching out gasoline.
Two water cannons started spraying into the crowds who had been making an attempt to carry the road.
Phalanxes of riot police, truncheons in hand, broke right into a dash from three sides, making an attempt to meet up with the protesters as they disappeared into alleyways.
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Riot police attacked with Molotov cocktails thrown by demonstrators. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters
It was maybe inevitable the police would lose endurance with the protesters who had gathered in entrance of the nation’s parliament in central Athens, throwing rocks, damaged items of pavement and marble steps, sticks, and quite a lot of oranges picked from the bushes that line the doorway to the constructing.
In Greece demonstrations usually go this manner, whilst we ready to cowl the occasion, we concluded some bother can be inevitable, and we weren’t unsuitable.
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Water cannons and petrol bombs utilized in Athens
Generally in gasoline masks, typically in helmets, we witnessed the police take again management of Syntagma Sq. – the centre of a protest commemorating the second anniversary of Greece’s worst practice crash.
A complete of 57 folks died, and plenty of extra had been injured when two trains collided on the identical line of monitor close to the Tempi gorge in central Greece on 28 February 2023.
No one has been held accountable, no correct investigations have been concluded, and an inquiry has discovered that no security enhancements have been carried out both.
On social media, the victims’ households known as for a memorial, however the entire concern has escalated right into a political disaster for the federal government, and the anniversary was marked with a normal strike and demonstrations in dozens of cities, with a whole bunch of hundreds taking to the road.
From early morning, tens of hundreds had made their approach to the official begin level exterior parliament in Athens. They marched collectively, chanting “murderers, murderers”.
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Police use water cannons in opposition to protesters. Pic: AP
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Riots broke out in Athens (above) and Thessaloniki. Pic: AP
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Demonstrators protest to mark the second anniversary of the nation’s worst railway catastrophe: REUTERS/Murad Sezer
I spoke to 2 associates who had come to pay their respects to the victims.
“We are only here for justice,” a lady within the heaving crowd instructed me. “We don’t trust the government about what happened.”
She added: “I don’t come here in anger, I come here in sorrow, and that is important.”
Because the official rally started to disperse, the violence began as demonstrators set makeshift barricades of garbage bins on fireplace and threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at police strains, making an attempt to carry a few of Athens’ well-known squares.
Over 5,000 riot police have been deployed, some stationary, others patrolling on motorbikes as protesters break up into small teams.
They popped up throughout the centre of town in a well-rehearsed sport of cat and mouse with the safety providers.
Within the early night, a bunch of some hundred protesters sat in entrance of the parliament constructing, watched by strains of riot police. Operating battles continued into the evening in different components of town.
It is unclear what the violence has achieved, if something, however public opinion right here is massively in opposition to the federal government on this concern.
Many imagine there was a cover-up and there are rising requires a parliamentary inquiry.
The sense one will get is that the federal government wants to grasp that this concern will not be going away.
