ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Clashes broke out in Athens Thursday throughout a normal strike in Greece that was known as in response to a rail catastrophe final month.
Protesters hurled gasoline bombs at a police cordon close to parliament. Riot police responded with tear fuel and sound grenades, through the transient flare-up of violence that disrupted giant, peaceable demonstrations. There have been no speedy experiences of accidents or arrests.
The strike grounded flights and extensively disrupted providers, whereas giant protests have been additionally held in different cities throughout the nation. Clashes between youths and police additionally erupted within the southern port metropolis of Patras.
The strike additionally saved ferries to the Greek islands at port, left public hospitals operating with emergency workers, halted public transport providers and led to class cancellations at state-run faculties.
Unions have rallied behind railway employees’ associations which have staged rolling walkouts because the head-on practice collision in northern Greece on Feb. 28 that left 57 individuals lifeless and dozens injured.
“This authorities has had 4 years to repair issues with the rail community, however as a substitute of proudly owning as much as that accountability, they’re blaming everybody else,” Popi Tsapanidou, a spokeswoman for most important leftist opposition social gathering Syriza, advised personal Skai tv.
The principle protests have been held in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest metropolis, and within the capital Athens, the place hundreds chanted “this crime is not going to be forgotten” as they reached a police cordon outdoors a non-public rail operator.
Shops and banks lowered their shutters when the protesters filed previous because the capital was dropped at a standstill. All kinds of labor associations — from these representing attorneys to supply drivers — joined the strike.
The federal government, which faces a parliamentary election earlier than the summer season, says rail providers will restart on March 22 and be restored step by step via April 11, with further workers to watch security and obligatory pace discount guidelines alongside sections of the observe.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right authorities has seen a powerful lead in opinion polls diminished in latest weeks over its most important rival, Syriza, with the 2 sides additionally locked in an ideological debate over the right way to reform Greece’s antiquated rail community.
Mitsotakis has promised clearer boundaries between privatized providers and the authorities overseeing them, in search of help from European Union consultants in drawing up the modifications. His political opponents argue that the poorly managed dismantling of companies beneath state management has in the end compromised rail security.
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