Two years after a devastating train crash in northern Greece, a general strike and hundreds of planned demonstrations are bringing the nation to standstill to mark the anniversary of a tragedy that has become a symbol of institutional failure.

Following hours of peaceful rallies in the Greek capital to mark two years since the Tempe rail disaster, youths with hammers smashed paving stones, throwing the rubble and makeshift firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas.

Violent protests in Greece on anniversary of rail disaster Thousands attend a protest in Syntagma Square outside the Greek parliament marking the second anniversary of Greece’s worst rail disaster. 57 people were killed in the head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train that had accidentally been put on the same track in February 2023.