Street violence succeeded another large Tempi rail disaster protest rally outside Greece’s Parliament in central Athens on Friday evening, at the same time a debate over a no-confidence motion was taking place at the political leaders’ level inside the legislature.
The incidents began at around 10 p.m. local time when a band of masked individuals veered away from the main protest and began throwing makeshift firebombs in front of Parliament, on Syntagma Square.
Similar scenes occurred in the northern city of Thessaloniki, after another large protest demanding justice and transparency over the deadly rail disaster, which claimed the lives of 57 people on Feb. 23, 2023.
Assembled riot police in both instances responded with stun grenades and tear gas, while a police water canon was used to disperse rioters in front of Parliament. Vandalism of storefronts, the ubiquitous torching of trash bins and breaking up sidewalks to use the resulting detritus as “missiles” to launch as police was also reported.
