Protesters launched gasoline bombs and fireworks in clashes with police outside Greece’s parliament late on Wednesday in renewed nationwide protests calling for politicians to be held accountable for a 2023 rail disaster that claimed 57 lives.
Scores of young people set fire to trash bins in Syntagma Square in central Athens, while police in riot gear responded with tear gas and baton charges. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
The fierce clashes erupted hours after opposition parties challenged Greece’s government with a no-confidence motion in parliament.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Days earlier, a general strike and much larger protests, some violent, marked the second anniversary of the Feb. 28, 2023, tragedy.
Many of the people killed in the head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train at Tempe in northern Greece were university students returning from a long weekend holiday. Dozens of people were injured in the crash.
Relatives of those who died called for the mass mobilization in recent weeks, saying politicians should be held accountable for failures that led to the collision. So far, only rail officials have been charged.
Photo: Reuters
The censure motion — led by the main opposition Socialist party and backed by three smaller parties — is unlikely to threaten the government of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which holds 156 seats in the 300-member parliament.
A vote is expected late today.
Presenting the motion on Wednesday, Socialist party leader Nikos Androulakis accused the government of shielding officials from accountability for the tragedy.
“Why do you remain so unrepentant, continuing down this road of insults and arrogance?” Androulakis asked lawmakers. “That’s why we are submitting a motion of no confidence today.”
Mitsotakis described the censure motion as a political stunt and said that it posed no threat to his second term, which is due to end in 2027.
“Parties from different vantage points have come together in a common anti-government front,” Mitsotakis told lawmakers. “It’s not the truth that you are interested in, but you have collapsed in opinion polls and are looking for a reason to exist.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a