Tens of thousands of people marched in Athens and other Greek cities on Wednesday in protest after the country's worst train disaster, which exposed significant deficiencies in rail safety.
This is reported by Ekathimerini.
Demonstrations were organized by unions and student associations, while strikes halted ferries to the islands and public transport in Athens, where at least 30,000 people protested.
Clashes took place after the rallies in Athens and two other cities.
More than 20,000 people joined the rallies in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, where several dozen young people defied a police cordon. Twelve students of the city's university were among those killed in a head-on collision between two trains last week.
Police fired tear gas in the southern city of Patras, where a municipal band had earlier played the music of a funeral march leading a demonstration. In the central city of Larissa, not far from where the trains collided, students with black balloons chanted: "No, profit over our lives!".
The accident happened on February 28 near the northern Greek city of Tempe. A passenger train collided with a freight train traveling in the opposite direction on the same track, and some derailed cars caught fire. 57 people died.
The station manager, who was blamed for causing the trains to end up on the same track, was charged with manslaughter and other crimes, and the country's transport minister and senior officials resigned the day after the accident.
But the discovery of serious security gaps on Greece's busy rail line has put the centre-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the defensive. He promised the government's full cooperation with the judicial investigation of the disaster.
After the disaster, the strike halted all national rail services.
Wednesday's protests were also supported by associations of striking civil servants and groups marking International Women's Day.
In Athens, the metro was closed for several hours so that people could reach the demonstration site. Public primary schools were also closed due to the strikes, and public hospitals were operating at limited capacity.
Greece may resume passenger rail services by the end of March, as soon as "absolute" safety is ensured following the shutdown of the rail network following a deadly train crash, it has been reported.
