Tempe Protests 2025

One of the largest demonstrations in Greece in recent years, with approximately 50,000 participants, was held on Sunday, January 26, to demand justice and accuse the government of obscuring the truth about the 2023 Tempe train disaster, which claimed 57 lives. Most of the victims were students returning to Thessaloniki universities. The crowd chanted, “Den echo oxygono” (“I have no oxygen”), echoing the last words of a woman in an emergency call that was leaked last week.

The demonstrations were initially organized by an association of the victims’ families in Athens and Thessaloniki, in front of the parliament. Protests have since spread to 97 cities across Greece and 13 cities internationally, including Madrid, London, Istanbul, Paris, and Amsterdam.

The release of new audio revealed that 30 of the 57 victims may have died not from the initial collision but from asphyxiation or burns. One of the trains was reportedly carrying an illegal and highly flammable chemical cargo, which may have caused the deaths of those who survived the initial crash. This cargo was not mentioned in the official cargo report.

The government, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the disaster and reelected afterward, has been accused of covering up the truth and delaying judicial procedures. Nearly two years after the crash, a trial has yet to begin. Maria Karystianou, a mother of one of the victims, described the incident as a “mafia-style operation to cover up the truth.”

The left parties and along with many unions and associations, supported the demonstrations. Protesters were met brutally with tear gas, arrests, and beatings by police. History repeats itself, as in 2023 protests after the disaster hosted a very familiar hostile confrontation by the police.

The protests highlighted growing frustration with the eroding separation of powers between the executive and judiciary. For years before the disaster, reports criticized the government for failing to address safety issues on the railways. Although the prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis initially blamed the crash on human error; particularly pointing the finger at 59 years old newly assigned station master, protests immediately following the disaster featured slogans such as, “It was not an accident, it was murder — down with New Democracy,” “Murderers,” “The friends of Mitsotakis are the rapists, the church, and capitalists,” and “With women in the front line — united we fight,” as well as “Privatizations kill.” 

As the scapegoating had not worked, the Transport minister, Kostas Karamanlis resigned after the disaster, apologizing for the failure. Kostas Genidounias, president of the train drivers' association, stated after the incident that automatic safety systems had not been functioning for years. The Panhellenic Federation of Railway Workers (POS) had warned the administration about the lack of electronic safety systems just days before the collision. 

Starting from mid-1990s, privatization plans have been implemented over the railway organization, OSE which has been divided into several companies, under the PASOK government. After the 2010 economic crisis, privatization accelerated and  In 2013, Trainose, the transport company and primary subsidiary of the formerly unified OSE, was transferred to the privatization fund TAIPED, widely criticized for its controversial policies. This led to significant budget cuts and a drastic reduction in personnel. In 2017, under the government led by Syriza’s Alexis Tsipras, Trainose was sold to an Italian company renamed Hellenic Train which highly concentrated its resources on achieveing high-speed at the expense of infrastructure and safety systems. Since the 1990s, public investment had been replaced by contractors operating through public-private partnerships. Companies like Alstom, Bombardier, and their Greek partners were paid millions of euros to install safety systems that were incompatible with one another, leading to malfunctions and additional costs—all ultimately covered by the state-owned OSE.