Your fight is ours too.

Za "Time" From Thessaloniki

On Friday, February 28, 2025, at the two-year anniversary of the terrible tragedy in Tempi in Thessaly, caused by a direct collision of trains moving on the same tracks in opposite directions, without anyone noticing, took place the largest demonstrations in the history of modern Greek democracy in honor of 57 victims. All cities in the country were flooded by millions of protesters with one demand: We want justice! Mass meetings were held in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, Larissa, Drama, Kavala, on the islands of Corfu, Zakynthos, Samos and others, but also took to the streets Greeks around the world, from Marseille and Reykjavik, to Toronto and Melbourne.

All those people demanded a full investigation into the causes of the deadly accident that killed 11 Greek railway workers and 46 passengers, mostly students traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki after a three-day holiday. Those responsible should be found, wherever and however high they are, they should be tried and punished.

The response of the public was extremely touching and unprecedented. Especially because the vast majority of workers participated in the 24-hour general strike declared by the unions, so all shops and businesses were "locked" that day. The conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, elected for a second term in 2023 with 41 percent of the vote, instead of sending a message that it understands society's demand to fully shed light on the train accident and determine responsibility, did not do so. She decided on police repression with chemicals and water cannons against peaceful demonstrators whose main slogans were "I have no oxygen", "We want justice", "We don't forget", "It wasn't an accident, it was murder!".

The police suffocated the people who took to the streets demanding justice with tear gas. The responsible minister Michalis Chrysohoidis and the leadership of the Greek police decided to send strong forces to these gatherings in order to present themselves as "guardians of order". Pictures from Greece that went around the world showed how "order and security" was being imposed, but not justice.

Aeschylus, one of the great Greek tragedians, wrote in his 2.500 years ago Persians: "When arrogance flourishes, the fruits of anger are born."

This popular mobilization of an unprecedented scale clearly demonstrated the gap that separates the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Greek society. The climate of the previous days, when the government targeted even the relatives of the victims of the tragedy in Tempi, combined with the violent suppression of the incidents, further deepened that gap.

But it should be known that the government against which the largest demonstrations in the recent history of a country are being conducted is politically doomed in advance because it now lacks popular legitimacy and cannot continue to rule "normally", as if nothing had happened, regardless of whether or not it can avoid elections in the next two years.

OPPOSITION REACTIONS

At the demonstrations, the collective cry of society for justice, truth and democracy could be clearly heard. Cry for "oxygen". In other words, a request was sent to change the policy, not just the government. These mass gatherings have led to an open conflict between Mitsotakis's government and society, with the opposition demanding the resignation and downfall of the government.

SYRIZA, with the new president Socrates Famelos, accused the New Democracy government of "knowingly violating the constitutional right to assembly", calling on Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis to resign first and thus "pave the way for Prime Minister Mr. Mitsotakis".

The Social Democratic PASOK, the second party according to the polls, says "those who invested in the darkness of cover-up and disinformation from the very beginning of the accident are forgetting something: against the darkness they imposed, the light of truth and justice always emerges victorious."

For its part, the Communist Party (KKE), which appears strengthened in the polls, talks about the "orgies of police repression" and that the government is "trying in vain if it thinks that with such actions it will terrorize the people and that it can hide the truth and erase the strong message sent to the world today by a million people across the country."

THE FAR RIGHT AND MICOTAKIS

The extreme right-wing opposition parties, no matter how much they try to take advantage of the current situation and strengthen themselves, can hardly convince the public that they represent the forces of change, because they arose from the blood and flesh of the system, as an absolute regime force and not at all "anti-system". When society is looking for "oxygen", democratic changes and quality democracy, ideologies based on intolerance and authoritarianism, such as the extreme right, have nothing to propose and offer.

In his message on social networks, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke of "collective trauma", but he did not fail to once again spread thorns on "some people" who are trying to "use the national misfortune as a weapon with which to wound the fatherland and its stable course in the future". He even tried to play the "destabilization" card and present himself as a "guarantor" of stability, making it clear that "for the good of Greece" he would not resign.

Mitsotakis, faced with large-scale social unrest, continues to invoke the need for political stability at a time of great global uncertainty, as shown by developments in Ukraine. In any case, the political hegemony of Mitsotakis, who completes six years as prime minister this year, is noticeably shrinking as the "Trump wind" threatens to blow the sails of politicians whose identity is far-right and populist and who will undermine him from the right.

photo: ap photo

A FLOW OF PAIN TURNED INTO A FLOOD

Maria Karistianou, the mother of the student who died in Tempi, a lawyer by profession, was also present at the large gathering in Athens. She took the main burden of the victims' relatives and their fight for justice on her shoulders.

Before the outbreak of the incidents, she stepped on stage and addressed the gathered protesters, saying the following: "The pain swelled and turned into a flood. We understand the depth of the rot. The monster of corrupt government appears before us every day. The unworthy and shameless rule us. All of us here today, whether individually or collectively, are paying the price of an unjust and arrogant government, we have experienced the face of pervasive corruption. In the chaos of our souls over the loss of our children, we discovered a strength we didn't know we had. As mothers, we have a duty to preserve the memory of our children, but also the safety of other children. United for catharsis, together we will once again bring the Miracle of Justice to our country".

Ilias Papagelis, the father of the murdered 19-year-old student Anastasija, said: "We demand justice, more oxygen, to get out of the darkness, to get out into the light. That there is more transparency and that everything is done safely and properly. That it never happens again to Tempi".

Dimitris Bezas, who lost his daughter Francesca in a train accident, said: "My little girl... My daughter's last voice was 'I have no oxygen', in her desperate attempt to survive".

Her cry became the main slogan of the demonstration.

Nikos Plakias, who lost his twin daughters and a nephew in the accident, appealed to politicians to put aside petty politics and mutual differences and bow their heads over the crime in Tempi, so that justice would be established. "We are fighting so that Tempi never happens again," he says.

The mother of the victim Claudia Lata said that "our dead deserve a homeland that will respect justice and history and that will remember them forever. We, their mothers, will stand tall until I go to court to hear from the Attorney General that whoever is really responsible for my daughter's death will be sentenced to 57 life imprisonment”.

TIMES - NOVI SAD

As one of the largest social protests in recent years in Greece, the so-called "Tempi Movement", which has existed for two years, has from the beginning shown interest and solidarity for the tragedy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024.

The Greek pro-government media initially reported extensively on the death of 15 people, hoping to convey the message that "tragedies happen elsewhere too", especially in our neighborhood. But when the anger of the Serbian people and citizens of Serbia was expressed through mass demonstrations, led by students who blocked central intersections in Belgrade and elsewhere protesting corruption and demanding justice for the victims, then in Greece journalistic reporting was silenced to avoid linking these two tragedies. But it was already too late.

The interest of the Greek public opinion in the events in Serbia flared up again, and the activists of "Movement Tempi" came into contact with activists and students from solidarity in Serbia - for the coordination of actions. There was, after all, much in common. Apart from the fact that both tragedies resulted in many deaths, they involved trains and train stations in the Balkans. Both cases showed that our common problem is corruption and arrogance of the authorities, slowness in clarifying the truth and establishing justice. In both cases, citizens reacted strongly and en masse demanding accountability and change, demonstrating the power of social pressure in tragedies attributed to state and government failures or corruption.
The common element of both movements is distrust in institutions and in justice. In both cases, the so-called "social opposition" opposes and fights against the arrogance of the authorities, while the political opposition is silenced because the creative forces of society are outside the political parties.

MICOTAKIS AND VUCIĆ

But there was another reason. Mitsotakis and Vučić had close relations because their parties belong to the same political family. Mitsotakis visited Belgrade several times, and before he became prime minister, he praised Vučić and the Serbian "economic miracle". Then, when he won the 2019 elections, he somewhat distanced himself from Vučić and his way of governing, as well as from Vučić's relationship with authoritarian politicians like Orban. However, he never expressed a negative opinion or criticism of Vučić's authoritarian way of governing Serbia.

Mitsotakis likes to portray himself as a liberal European politician, more centrist than right-wing and conservative, sensitive to environmental and social problems. He voted for the recognition of same-sex marriages and the adoption of children from same-sex couples, and he did not want to be identified with conservative, nationalist and populist politicians like Aleksandar Vučić. However, the accident-crime in Tempi, as well as in Novi Sad, made their comparisons inevitable.

On social networks in Greece, comments about the way of acting and the good organization of students in Serbia, as well as the repressive methods of the Serbian government, have multiplied. When the Greeks were informed in January 2025 that the mobilizations of Serbian students had led to the resignation of Prime Minister Miloš Vučević, they were excited, believing that a corrupt government had fallen. Someone still had to explain to them that the real power in Serbia is held by Vučić, not the prime minister and his government. A great disappointment followed, but it helped them to look at the struggle of Serbian students with even greater sympathy.

At the time of the mass student demonstrations in Serbia, and as a sign of support for the students, smaller demonstrations were also held in Greece with the slogan "Your struggle is ours", while on the day of unprecedented demonstrations in Greece, February 28, Serbian students gathered in Belgrade with a banner that read in Greek: "In Novi Sad and Tempi, the state and corruption are killing".