Greek PM warns against violence at train crash protests this week

ATHENS - Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned Greeks on Wednesday against any violence during scheduled protests to mark two years since a deadly train accident this week, saying provocative online posts aimed to create political instability.

Mass demonstrations are planned in dozens of Greek cities on Friday to pay tribute to the 57 people, mostly students, who were killed in the country's worst railway disaster.

Air, sea and train transport will be halted as workers will join a 24-hour strike called by labour unions to demand justice for the victims of the head-on collision of a freight train and a passenger train just before midnight on Feb. 28, 2023.

Two years on, a judicial investigation is still underway over the exact cause of the crash on a line linking Athens with Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki. Tens of thousands of Greeks held angry protests last month, asking the government to identify and punish the culprits.

Mitsotakis' centre-right government, which won a second term after the accident, has faced repeated criticism by relatives of the victims for failing to investigate any political responsibility for the accident. Some opposition parties have accused the government of covering up evidence and urged it to step down.

Addressing a cabinet meeting, part of which was televised, Mitsotakis said the demonstrations would be heavily guarded to avert any attempts by unidentified groups to stir tension and turn "this climate of emotions into a climate of political destabilization", following provocative slogans on the internet he said were aimed at inciting violence.

"It's a national drama which should unite our society behind a common demand for truth and justice," he said. "Those who envision the day after tomorrow as a milestone for violent upheavals will find us on the opposite side."

(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Philippa Fletcher)