The Lens: More than 60,000 protest in Greece after deadliest train accident which killed 57 people

Reuters and Yanni Chow

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Greece and workers went on strike last Wednesday in a show of public anger over the country’s deadliest train disaster, which killed 57 people last month.

The crash on February 28 has stirred public outrage over the terrible state of the country’s rail network. Striking workers say years of neglect, underinvestment and understaffing are to blame.

In the largest street protests the government has faced since being elected in 2019, police estimated that more than 60,000 people took part in demonstrations in cities across Greece.

In central Athens, the capital city, more than 40,000 people marched to the government offices, chanting “Murderers!” and “We are all in the same carriage”.

Violence briefly broke out when a group of protesters clashed with riot police, who fired tear gas at the crowd. Protesters hurled petrol bombs in front of parliament and set a van and rubbish bins on fire.

Around 350 people were aboard the passenger train that collided head-on with a freight train while travelling on the same track. Many were university students heading north to Thessaloniki from Athens.

“You feel angry because the government did nothing for those kids. Public transport is a mess,” said 19-year-old Nikomathi Vathi.

Rail workers say their demands for improvement in safety protocols have been ignored for years.

“We drivers have filed complaints about these things, we have gone on strike about it, we have made warnings, we have protested,” said the head of the train drivers’ union, Kostas Genidounias.

“They told us we were lying ... in the end it showed that the workers were right.”

Greece’s largest public sector union ADEDY also joined the 24-hour strike. City transport workers walked off the job in solidarity, disrupting metro, tram and bus services in the capital.

• What does the ADEDY’s move to join the strike say about the incident?

• To what extent do you think the government was responsible for the accident?

Isabelle Wei, Canadian International School of Hong Kong

With its infinite, personalised stream of videos, TikTok’s waterfall of content seems most dangerous because of its addictive grip on users’ attention. However, the app has come under fire due to another issue: its ability to gather, store, and potentially share sensitive personal data.

In the US, the country’s House Foreign Affairs Committee has voted to advance legislation granting President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok in the United States, as well as other apps deemed security risks.

Democrats opposed the bill, saying that the scope of the legislation would impact American and international establishments. Gregory Meeks, the panel’s top Democrat, said the proposed measure would harm allegiances worldwide and eliminate jobs in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union also opposed the bill, calling it a violation of Americans’ rights to free speech.

TikTok also has millions of users in the US – some of whom have made the app a significant part of their identity and income. Banning the platform would impact their livelihoods.

Although there are more hurdles the bill must pass before it can become law – the full House and the Democrat-led US Senate would need to pass it – even the initial approval of the bill is a massive step towards banning TikTok in the US. The only question is, would banning it do more harm than good?

US House panel approves bill giving Biden power to ban TikTok